Simple english langage question

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Simple english langage question

#1 Post by sculpteur »

Sorry if its off topic but I have a simple question about english langage.

Its important because its about the title of my creation and I don't want to make any mistake about it.

Is this grammatically correct ?
Because i'am currently hesitating between this :

"At our darkest moment"
"In our darkest moment"
"At our darkest hours"
"In our darkest hours"

Thank you !
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Re: Simple english langage question

#2 Post by Empish »

Technically any of those can work grammatically, but the one I like best is "In our darkest hours" and I'll tell you why. Hours rather than just a moment, conveys a bigger range of time, and sounds more dramatic and interesting (to me at least). Using the word "in" instead of "at" is also more inclusive.

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Re: Simple english langage question

#3 Post by Ezmar »

I agree with the above. You could consider "In our Darkest Hour", which has slightly better flow in my opinion, but I agree that the image that plural "hours" implies is probably more valuable than the subjective aesthetics.

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Re: Simple english langage question

#4 Post by Imperf3kt »

To me, none of them are useful without context.
What comes after/before this line, will be the deciding factor.
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Re: Simple english langage question

#5 Post by sculpteur »

To me, none of them are useful without context.
What comes after/before this line, will be the deciding factor.
Sorry but I don't really understand what you mean.
It's about the Title of my game so nothing comes before, and after comes my game.
So the context is my game.
And it's a game about surviving after an apocalypse when there is no more law and no more civilization.
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“He asked me to calm down, close my eyes and be quiet. He explained to me that if I was afraid, the shadow that ran barefoot in the street would feel it. I got scared seeing Jumanji on TV, so let me tell you, we didn't stay hidden for long and had to start running again.”
Jessica's Diary.

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Re: Simple english langage question

#6 Post by sculpteur »

I agree with the above. You could consider "In our Darkest Hour", which has slightly better flow in my opinion, but I agree that the image that plural "hours" implies is probably more valuable than the subjective aesthetics.
I agree with you. So thanks to your opinion I'm now hesitating between "In our Darkest Hour" and "In our Darkest Hours" .

So to help me decide, could you elaborate more about : --- the image that plural "hours" implies ---
Because I also like the aesthetics of the singular one.
But I'm not sure to get the real differences beteween them.
English is not my native langage that's why I don't get all the subtleties.
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“He asked me to calm down, close my eyes and be quiet. He explained to me that if I was afraid, the shadow that ran barefoot in the street would feel it. I got scared seeing Jumanji on TV, so let me tell you, we didn't stay hidden for long and had to start running again.”
Jessica's Diary.

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Re: Simple english langage question

#7 Post by Ezmar »

Well, the singular "hour" is part of what's almost a stock phrase "[the] Darkest Hour". It has a meaning that people will automatically understand and have heard before.

However, it does bring to mind the image of only a single moment, and pluralizing it to "hours" sort of leverages the existing familiarity with the phrase and broadens the scope a little bit. Now it's not just the darkest hour, the lowest point, but all the hours that are dark. To me "hours" brings to mind the image of an unusually long period of time.

That image is a cool detail to me, though it comes at the expense of the familiarity of the other phrase. Some people might think "hours" sounds "wrong", but just as many may find "hour" to be generic and forgettable.

My personal vote is for "in our darkest hours".

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Re: Simple english langage question

#8 Post by LateWhiteRabbit »

Ezmar wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2018 3:27 pm Well, the singular "hour" is part of what's almost a stock phrase "[the] Darkest Hour". It has a meaning that people will automatically understand and have heard before.

However, it does bring to mind the image of only a single moment, and pluralizing it to "hours" sort of leverages the existing familiarity with the phrase and broadens the scope a little bit. Now it's not just the darkest hour, the lowest point, but all the hours that are dark. To me "hours" brings to mind the image of an unusually long period of time.
It would have to denote an especially long period of time - as the stock phrase "In Our Darkest Hour" does usually cover long expanses of time - not just a single hour. For instance, the whole of World War 2 is often called "the Darkest Hour of the 20th Century". And that covers 4+ years.

"In Our Darkest Hours" is grammatically correct, but some people might stumble on it since the phrase is usually said with the singular and not the plural.

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Re: Simple english langage question

#9 Post by Ezmar »

Right, but "Darkest Hour" is usually in reference to a particular thing, I didn't mean it literally meant one hour. You usually wouldn't use it to describe a period of time, you'd more often use it to describe an event. For example, the Dark Ages.

It can really go either way, but it's more of a style thing than a grammatical thing. Either way is equally "correct".

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Re: Simple english langage question

#10 Post by Imperf3kt »

sculpteur wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:45 am
To me, none of them are useful without context.
What comes after/before this line, will be the deciding factor.
Sorry but I don't really understand what you mean.
It's about the Title of my game so nothing comes before, and after comes my game.
So the context is my game.
And it's a game about surviving after an apocalypse when there is no more law and no more civilization.
Ah, my mistake. So it is for your title? Still somewhat context dependant, but now less so.

I'm afraid though, that you may want to google your proposed titles and find they already exist.
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Re: Simple english langage question

#11 Post by sculpteur »

All right thanks everyone for your feedback.
But finally, like Imperf3kt say it, the title I choose is far from original and has been taken for a lot of things before.
So I'm going to change it for something else and I would like your first impression on this different possible title (even if you don't know exactly what the content of the game is)
But just to let you know a little bit more about the game :
- it's dark in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere
- it's not SF nor fantasy, just fiction.
- their is just a pinch of fantastic (In the literal sense of the term), but nothing extravagant (like magic or vampire or stuff like this). This stay realistic all the way.

To decide, please don't forget to consider the flow and the originality of it.

So what do you think about the following titles :


- Breathe through the shadows

- Breathe in the dark

- A breath in the dark

- Let me lick your tears

- I will lick your tears

- Black waves

- Black wave

- Dark wave

- The smell of darkness

- The whispering of the dark

- The murmurs of the dark
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“He asked me to calm down, close my eyes and be quiet. He explained to me that if I was afraid, the shadow that ran barefoot in the street would feel it. I got scared seeing Jumanji on TV, so let me tell you, we didn't stay hidden for long and had to start running again.”
Jessica's Diary.

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Re: Simple english langage question

#12 Post by cometgears »

If I were browsing through titles, this is what my reaction would be:
- Breathe through the shadows
- Breathe in the dark
- A breath in the dark
This is just a personal thing, "breathe" and "breath" are awkward-looking words to me, so I'm not a big fan. But the image of someone breathing in the dark is interesting, maybe if it were described in a different way.
- Let me lick your tears
- I will lick your tears
I like "I will lick your tears" more. It sounds more direct and immediate. My first reaction is--that seems gross and creepy! But is it a threat? Is it actually a sweet promise? So then I would probably try to find out more about it.
- Black waves
- Black wave
- Dark wave
I don't have much of an opinion on these.
- The smell of darkness
- The whispering of the dark
- The murmurs of the dark
Also don't have much of an opinion on the whispering and murmurs titles. They seem inoffensive. The smell of darkness could be an interesting one, if it ties into a theme of the story. Actually, that's true of any title--I like it if it's meaningful to the story.

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