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This article is from the Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ, by Steuard Jensen sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu with numerous contributions by others.

07 What common mistakes should I try to avoid? (Tolkien Newsgroups)

By and large, the participants in the Tolkien newsgroups try to
judge others based on their ideas rather than on details of grammar and
posting style. However, there are a few types of simple mistakes that
tend to cause some level of bias and annoyance among many group
members, which in turn can distract them from your real message. Most
of these are covered in the "Netiquette" section below.

One common mistake of this type that is not related to netiquette is
confusing the singular and plural forms of common Elvish words. On the
Tolkien newsgroups, these words are so familiar that the phrase "Manwe
is a Valar" sounds just as jarring and strange as "Finrod is an Elves."
To reduce this problem, a list of some of the most commonly confused
singular/plural pairs is given below. Note the patterns!

Singular: Vala   Maia   Elda   Noldo   Sinda   Teler   Istar   Adan
Plural:   Valar  Maiar  Eldar  Noldor  Sindar  Teleri  Istari  Edain

Another issue that arises periodically is whether or not _The Lord
of the Rings_ should be referred to as a "trilogy". Tolkien said quite
clearly in Letter #165 that "The book is _not_ of course a 'trilogy'",
and some people make a point of correcting those who use the term.
However, in Letter #252, Tolkien himself refers to "my trilogy", so
most of us agree that using the term is an acceptable shorthand, if
nothing else.

 

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