Version: 1.0
Language Tag: en-US-x-h3h
Introduction
This is a normative reference to h3h English. h3h English is a variant of the language spoken by the majority of the residents of the United States of America and most of the commercial world.
Anything not explicitly stated in this reference should be taken from standard English as per the MLA or other reputable academic authority.
So, when arguing anything about a definition herein, all parties involved should first ensure they agree on the meaning of all constructs used in the definitions being argued. If they do not, said constructions should be added to a future version of this reference.
In the absence of specification in this document, the following site may be assumed to be a normative extension:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/
Writing Styles
Formal Writing
Formal writing is considered to be any form of communication that deals with business, academia, or personal writing when indicated by the author. Some of these mediums may include, but are not limited to: letterheads, memoranda, business email, essays, charters, expositions, legal documents, and health documents.
Informal Writing
Informal writing is considered to be any form of communication that is not formal. Some of these mediums may include, but are not limited to: internet chat, personal email, and personal reflections.
Case Sensitivity
The syntax of h3h English is case-sensitive. Certain letters are always capitalized, regardless of writing style.
- Acronyms (except when specified as otherwise)
- First letters of proper names (e.g. “The Golden State”, “John Doe”).
- First letters of members of proper abbreviations (e.g. “Ph.D.”, “Mr.”).
Additional capitalizations in the formal writing style are:
- First letters of sentences.
- The word “I”, no matter its context.
Vocabulary
- h3h
- A derivative of heh, which is an expression of indifference, contemplation, or lack of emotion. It is commonly used as a placeholder in a conversation while one thinks of a response. h3h is case-sensitive and thus makes no sense as H3h, H3H or any other combination than the correct one unless unavoidable. See also: What does ‘h3h’ mean?
- This weekend
- The weekend in the future that is closest to the current day.
- Next weekend
- The weekend immediately after this weekend.
- Electronic mail. This spelling an acceptable substitute for the original form (e-mail).
Grammar
Companies
Companies are singular entities. Therefore the name of a company, when used as part of a sentence, is a singular noun.
For instance, in the sentence Microsoft has illegally extended its monopolies., the word Microsoft is singular and represents the single entity that is the company.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Acronyms must contain more than one letter and no more than one letter in a row sequentially may be lower case.
- IRS
- NRA
- DoTA
Abbreviations contain periods separating the abbreviated members. Trailing periods are required.
- Ph.D.
- “et. al.”
- “etc.”
- “S.P.A.W.A.R.S.”
Plurals and Possessives
Plurals of words and acronyms never end in ’s.
To make a possessive of a plural word, simply append an apostrophe.
e.g. The apples’ cores were hard.
To make a possessive of a singular word that ends in s, either a single apostrophe or a ’s may be appended, depending on the pronunciation.
e.g. We went to Charles’s house.
To make a plural of an acronym, follow normal the English rules of appending an s or es appropriately by looking at the last letter in the acronym. Never use an apostrophe to make a plural of an acronym.
e.g.
- The new hires had to sign NDAs before going to work.
- The ship had sent out repeated SOSes.
To make a plural of an abbreviation, a single letter, or a single number, ’s should be appended.
e.g.
- The college hands out over one hundred Ph.D.’s every year.
- The number of A’s in the class was relatively high.
The phrase it is may be contracted to it’s. The possessive its must not be replaced by it’s.
Pronouns
The pronouns of this language are as follows:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | I | We |
| 2nd person | You | You all |
| 3rd person | He/She/It | They |
Notes:
When referring to persons of uncertain gender, the male pronoun, the female pronoun, or a combination separated by either a / character or the word or may be used.
e.g.
- Any user may modify his preferences.
- The winner of the game will have all of her clothes on.
- The new candidate will explain his/her stance on issues.
- A student may view his or her grades online.
Punctuation
Quoting
Quote marks exactly contain the text being quoted, and not any trailing punctuation.
When the text being quoted ends with a punctuation mark identical to that immediately following the close quote, the inner punctuation mark may be omitted if doing so does not reduce the accuracy of the statement.
e.g.:
- “Why is the title ‘I Like Cats’?” is a question.
- “Hello Sir”, said Blake, “I am glad to meet you”.
- “How do you do?”, replied Ian.
- “She said, ‘I don’t want to do that’, and I sighed”, said Jim.
There are three kinds of quote marks:
- Double quotes: Used to mark quoted text.
- Single quotes: Used to mark quoted text within quoted text.
-
Double angle brackets: Usually used to quote entire blocks of text.
e.g.
« Lorem…
…
ipsum »
When quoting entire paragraphs of content, a block quote device should be used whenever possible. If a block quote device cannot be used, opening and closing double quotes must be used at the beginning and end of every single paragraph quoted.
e.g.
“I’m just a person who’s trying to get ahead in life. I’ve always worked since I was little, but here there are no opportunities for young people.”
“They don’t bother asking what’s going on in my life, what I am like and what has forced me to take this decision. They only judge me and point their fingers at me.”
“I came out and said publicly what my situation was and nobody, nobody has been capable of saying, thank you, I’ll help you with something.”
“And there are people who have loads of money, loads of jobs.”
Bracketing
There are four kinds of brackets. Only three are used in h3h English.
- Round brackets (parentheses, ()): Used to mark parenthetical remarks, clarifications, and the like.
- Square brackets ([]): Used within quotations to indicate paraphrasing. For instance, in the text “He said ‘[Bert] doesn’t like it’.”, the inner quote’s original source could have been “He doesn’t like it”, which, when taken out of its initial context, may be ambiguous, requiring the word “He” to be replaced by a paraphrasing such as, in this case, “[Bert]“.
- Curly brackets (braces, {}): Used sparingly for citations when sections are involved.
- Angle brackets (<>): Not used in h3h English text.
When using punctuation marks to surround text, they should be treated like quotes (although without affecting the actual quote nesting level, of course). If an entire sentence is a parenthetical remark, for instance, then the trailing period should be within the brackets.
e.g.:
(He said “good bye”.)
Shortening
Shortening or homogenization of commonly used English words such as you, their, nevermind (to u, there, nm), and others that are common in instant messaging are NOT permitted in any formal writing.
Conformance
All sections of this specification should be considered normative except the examples.
Acknowledgments
Ian Hickson’s English (en-GB-Hixie) inspired most of this content (although some of this content is divergent).
[ http://ian.hixie.ch/bible/english ]