Help:Grammar


 * For advice on writing style and specific rules for this wiki, see Help:Style guide.

Correct English grammar is encouraged when writing full or partial sentences on the wiki. This keeps articles easily understood and professional. Either British or American English grammar is acceptable (although most differences between the varieties are in spelling and vocabulary, not grammar).

Please note that a number of editors are not native English speakers, and that even the most obsessively correct native speaker makes mistakes from time to time. Correct errors politely, and if someone links to this page or other guides, treat it as a friendly reminder and resource, not a personal criticism!

Below are some common issues:

It's vs. its
"It's" is a contraction of "it is" (or "it has"). Anywhere you use "it's", you should be able to replace it with "it is" (or "it has") and have the same meaning. For instance, "It&#39;s high Health protects it in combat" is clearly wrong when rephrased to "It is high Health protects it in combat". In fact, many consider "it is" to be a more appropriate choice for formal writing than "it's" anyway - not that all the writing on the wiki is strictly formal.


 * Correct: "It's easiest to deal with Sylvanas Windrunner with transform effects."
 * Incorrect: "Its easiest to deal with Sylvanas Windrunner with transform effects."

"Its" is the possessive form of "it". "Its triggered effect is very powerful" means "the triggered effect belonging to the previously mentioned thing is very powerful". Yes, this violates the usual rule that possessives use an apostrophe.


 * Correct: "Its mana cost is too high to be useful in competitive decks."
 * Incorrect: "It's mana cost is too high to be useful in competitive decks."

More info: http://grammarist.com/spelling/its-its/

Cast vs. casted
In modern writing, "cast" is typically the past tense of "to cast", as in casting a spell. According to Grammarist.com, "casted" is an alternate form typically seen in much older text (middle English) that has not been popular in modern usage, and has started "gaining ground" only recently. In addition, in-game writing uses "cast" for the past tense, for instance Yogg-Saron. Therefore, the standard modern form "cast" should be used on this wiki when referring to spellcasting.


 * Correct: "Yogg-Saron, Hope's End casts a random spell for every spell cast earlier this game."
 * Incorrect: "Yogg-Saron, Hope's End casts a random spell for every spell casted earlier this game."

Using "casted" for other meanings is acceptable, and may actually help distinguish the usage of the word from spellcasting.
 * Example: "Frodan casted the Reynad-Frase match during the Winter 2014-2015 ESL Legendary Series, drawing critical acclaim."

More info: http://grammarist.com/usage/casted/