I was thinking yesterday, wouldn't it be useful to have a general grammar guide for some of those scifi tropes we all know and (sometimes) love? The one where they all swap bodies, the one where they travel back into the past, the one where they meet alternate versions of themselves...

There aren't really any rules for this stuff, not in English grammar, because it's not designed for time travel, alternate versions of oneself, etc. But having been a scifi fan since forever, a fanfic writer for just as long, and always, well, not a Grammar Nazi, but at least a... Grammar Collaborator? Um, let's drop those terms, they make me uncomfortable. I'm a grammaphile, and I've wrestled with some of these concepts before, trying to put them into legible English.

There are some awesome grammar comms out there, in particular fandom_grammar but they're more about actual, real grammar, and not this made up stuff. *g*

Note: I ain't no expert, and I'm not trying to be prescriptive. These are suggestions as to what feels right, YMMV, go strut your funky creative licence stuff. I have a few book to which I might refer (principally Strunk & White's Elements of Style), but they are also subject to changes in location (British =/= American =/= Canadian =/= Australian =/= other places' proper grammar) and time (language evolves, goddammit). I myself am prone to older grammar constructions, having read a lot of old books in my formative years. I welcome correction, suggestion and debate, but not flames or outright revolution.

And I'm blaming crazedturkey for encouraging this whole idea.

So, what shall we tackle first? Well, seeing as I've been polling opinion on this one recently, how about ( bodyswap and gendered pronouns... )