User:Trebor

About Myself[edit]

I've been a fan of Battletech for... I don't know precisely how long. I used to be a member of the Battletech Mod Productions forum, which is where I got my introduction into Battletech. I'm guessing that I've been a fan for almost six or seven years now, but have no true way of telling.

My favorite faction/mercenary-group was Wolf's Dragoons, until the Wobbies nuked 'em. The Ghost Bear Dominion has since become my favorite, but it's hard to replace the Dragoons.

What I'm Doing Here[edit]

I'm not actually doing anything special, just some edits to bring the English up to acceptability. I only joined because I was reading about the Marian Hegemony and the article was so unreadable in parts that I started fixing it up. When I realized how much clean up the article needed, well, I signed up.

My Stuff[edit]

  • Classic Battletech Boxed Set (pre-plastic minis!)
  • Total Warfare (2009 edition)
  • Jihad Hot Spots: 3072


Resources for Better English[edit]

It may sound laughable, but as a child I hated "Language Arts" with a passion even I don't understand. It was as though the books, teachers, and various curriculum I worked through was purposefully trying to make me illiterate. But then something changed in me about 6 - 7 years ago, and I started to relearn how to write properly. It has been a long journey full of errors, but I'm grateful to everyone I've asked for critique. The assistance of those individuals whom I saw as being good writers helped lift me from mediocrity to being competent, for which I'm eternally thankful.

This list may grow over time, as I'm still seeking some articles that helped me years back.

Simple & Direct: a Rhetoric for Writers[edit]

Written by Jacques Barzun, Simple & Direct is an excellent guide to solving the problems that plague the English language today. He tackles every problem, from improper metaphors to the improper (and proper) uses of everyday words like "while" and "which". The number of nuances that I have learned (even halfway through) about the English language as a native speaker is incredible.

Simple & Direct at Amazon

50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice[edit]

This article suprised me less than I expected. What the author does is expose Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" for what it is: trash. I think that I understood this innately and yet I enjoyed the very points he made.

50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice - The Chronicle