Typos in Thaumonomicon 1 (Basic, Thaumaturgy)

[applebaps]

Here are all the ones I've found so far in Basic Information and Thaumaturgy categories. I'll have to do Alchemy, Artifice, and Golemancy later, as there's a lot more of this than I expected when I started this report and I'd like to actually play the game today instead of working on this one bug report all day, lol.

For the record, none of these errors are game-breaking, or obscure your meaning so much that I couldn't figure it out. This is just that final level of polish that the text needs to really shine imo. I know receiving proofreading can be sort of nerve wracking, haha. Everybody misses things when it's their own work; you stare at it for so long it looks right no matter what!

One general piece of feedback I have is that you may want to decide whether you're going to capitalize certain things or not. At present, the book is inconsistent in general when it comes to whether things like Vis, Aura, Focus of Equal Trade etc are proper nouns or not.

Anyway, cheers! Thanks for all your hard work on this awesome mod. :) I hope this will help you going forward with TC6, as well.

Basic Information

Needs period after "to gain clues to further research", and commas after "Before you can do either of these" and "To craft a Research Table".

Comma needed after "A simple stone may possess the aspect of Terra", and one more after "40 known aspects".

This might be nitpicky, but I feel "various mystical elements" would be better instead of "varying mystical elements". You're trying to express that there's lots of them, not that they change, right? Your second usages of "various" and "varying" seem fine, and illustrate what I mean.

There should not be a comma after "The simplest example of such a compound aspect". You could also remove "the aspect of", to avoid repeating yourself. The resulting sentence would look like this: "The simplest example of such a compound aspect is Victus (life), which is..." et cetera.

The paragraph beginning with "Aspects that have..." changes plurality partway through. "Aspects" is plural, but then it says "is known as Vis and is very valuable", which is a singular reference. This should either be "An aspect that has been separated from its object and purified is known as Vis", or "Aspects that have been separated from their object and purified are known as Vis and are very valuable". Furthermore, instead of a colon there, you want a comma. The rest of the paragraph is not a list of items, or a particular example (with the colon replacing "e.g."), but simply more information.

Plurality change happens again here, with "auras near water often has". Should either be "an aura near water often has", or "auras near water often have". "those in a desert would have" is correct, however. Missing word in the paragraph on Vitium. Should be "Flux is 'thicker' and tends to gather". Also needs a comma after "For more information on taint".

3rd paragraph should begin with a comma after "Generally". Also needs a comma after "the phases of the moon". 6th paragraph, 2nd sentence also begins with a comma clause; should be "When they get close enough, they will". That sentence also has some awkward phrasing. Suggested rewrite: "When they get close enough, they will merge, with varying results. This usually results in a larger..." etc. If that feels like too many commas, you could also say "They will merge when they get close enough, with varying results. This usually results in a larger..." and so on.

Sinister nodes should have a comma after "Furthermore", and one after "dangerous".

This isn't an error so much as a stylistic choice, but I would try to avoid repeating the word "dangerous" so soon. Describing the sinister nodes as sinister also seems redundant. Suggested synonyms: "dark", "treacherous", "evil", "corrupted", "twisted", "abnormal", or if you wanna get Lovecraftian up in here, "tenebrous", "eldritch", "limpid", or maybe "accursed" or "antediluvian". "Dank"? "Foetid"? The world is your oyster, here. "Daemoniac" is a personal favorite.

Another plurality change here. "The first two manifestations are considered annoyances by most thaumaturges, and are often the result of wasteful use of magic." I also added a comma there, just for clarity. Technically not required (since you've got "and" there), but it makes a long sentence flow a bit more easily, imo. You're sort of linking two different concepts there, or adding on a bit of information to the first part, so that's why I felt like doing that.

Final paragraph should also have a comma after "while a thaumaturge is suffering from it", as well as one after "difficult to focus vis". Suggested rewrite: "While Flux Flu isn't particularly dangerous, it decreases a thaumaturge's ability to focus, leading to increased vis usage."

Just needs a comma after "Lastly" in the final paragraph.

We need commas after "Additionally" (3rd paragraph), "Lastly" (4th paragraph), and "If you have enough of the component aspects". Those pesky beginning clauses again! I would also suggest saying "the aspect you clicked on" or "the aspect you selected" or something, instead of "the clicked aspect". To really be correct and maintain that construction, you'd need to say "the clicked-on aspect" there, which is... weird.

Comma after "hallucinogenic properties".

Commas after "footwear of all types" and, in the final paragraph, "even then". You could rewrite for brevity by saying "This enchantment can only be applied to certain Thaumcraft items." and skip the commas altogether if you like.

Needs a comma after "but when riled up", "under normal conditions", "this desire for material wealth", and "Once befriended". Suggested rewrite of final paragraph's closing sentence, though: "They are said to carry wondrous objects, which they may give to those who befriend them." Stylistic suggestion: removing the inverted commas around "friendships". Who are we to judge? =p

Comma after "On occasion", "settle into rock", "As long as they are fed vis", "Once the aura dips low enough", "crumble away completely". In the first paragraph, "vis infused" should be a hyphenate: "vis-infused".

Cinnabar's description should properly read, "This reddish ore is found deep underground and, when smelted, produces quicksilver." OR "...and produces quicksilver when smelted." Same thing applies to Amber's description, with "when mined" being the clause instead of "when smelted". Take your pick as to the construction you like.

Needs a comma after "more detailed information regarding them".

Comma after "In your travels" and "When used". Since I'm sort of repeating this error a lot, it bears mentioning that you can avoid this problem altogether by moving those clauses to the ends of your sentences, like so: "You might happen upon fragments of ancient and lost knowledge in your travels. They will grant you a small amount of experience when used." The reason the comma is there is to delineate a portion of the sentence that was moved "up front" for stylistic reasons. It's more common in modern times to speak with these clauses at the start of our sentences, rather than sticking strictly to prescriptive sentence construction. So, people don't often "get" that those little bits of up-front information are actually clauses unto themselves without being told, haha.

Thaumaturgy

Needs a comma after the parenthetical in the 2nd paragraph, like so: "The most basic wand stores a very limited amount of magical energy (called vis),". Alternatively, you could make the parenthetical into a comma clause, since that's kind of what it is. So, "magical energy, called vis,". Also, you want "which it uses" instead of "that it uses". Basically, if removing the words that follow would change the meaning of the sentence, you want "that". Otherwise, use "which". In this case, clarifying that the wand uses the magical energy to perform its tasks doesn't really fundamentally change the preceding parts of the sentence. So you want "which" there.

To further clarify the clarification, in your 3rd paragraph you use "that" correctly. Just telling us that the indicator is there in the upper left part of the screen doesn't tell us much. I would argue that saying it shows us how much vis is stored within the wand wouldn't fly with a "which". It needs "that". Congrats!

We also want a comma after "While holding a wand". I would argue that "end-caps" is not a hyphenate, rather that it is either a closed compound ("endcaps") or an open compound ("end caps"). However, the rules for compound formations are NOT simple by any stretch of the imagination (and are mostly made up, like a lot of grammar). My argument is purely stylistic; I think it looks weird as a hyphenate, lol. YMMV

This construction is a bit awkward. I want to say you need "to" in place of "than" ("Gold is a far superior focusing agent to iron"). My thought process is to boil the sentence down to its simplest parts and build up from there and see if it makes sense. So, what we're trying to say is, "gold is better than iron". Then we change "better than" to "superior to". You wouldn't say "gold is superior than iron". Then we jam in some other words, it's "far superior" and it's "a focusing agent", so "Gold is a far superior focusing agent to iron." I feel like that should be its own sentence. Just remove the comma and the "and", and go with "Wands capped with this material take no penalty" etc. Note also the plurality correction.

You want "take" instead of "takes" (plurality). The 2nd sentence should be "More importantly, however, is the fact...". I know it seems like a lot of commas, but that's making sure your 2 different clauses there are properly isolated. You could also just drop the "however" if you wanted, since you're not contradicting anything in your 1st sentence by saying that the wands capped with brass draw vis from the aura more easily than normal.

Comma after "a sizable collection of foci". To avoid an awkward construction in your 2nd paragraph, you could break up your first sentence into two, like so: "Whenever you change the focus on your wand, it will check this pouch first. Any foci that..." and so on.

You want "worth" instead of "worthwhile". You could also change the word "using" to the phrase "to use" if you want to keep it as "worthwhile". Think of "worthwhile" as a replacement or shortening of the phrase "worth your while", meaning "worth your time". You wouldn't say "worth your time using", but you might say "worth your time to use".

Commas needed after "Secondly" and "Like other wands".

The phrase you want is "stock-in-trade" or "stock in trade", either is correct. Comma after "Unfortunately".

"However" is its own clause unto itself, here. So, you want "What makes it superior to greatwood cores, however, is" etc. This error was also made on every page following in this research entry, though I haven't included screenshots of all of those.

Plurality change in the 3rd paragraph. You want "If the proper types and amounts of vis are focused".

Top right of the 2nd page, it looks like a word got cut off? "any foci you a carrying" should probably be "are carrying".

If you're going to put a comma after "proved to be a simple", then you also need one after "but useful" to close the clause. So, "proved to be a simple, but useful, tool." OR "proved to be a simple but useful tool." Either is fine.

This is a little nitpicky, but you want "bounce off of solid objects" to really be correct. Here we see another "however" without commas enclosing it, as well.

The phrasing on this focus is pretty unclear in general, imo. I think the use of passive voice, which I haven't really picked on elsewhere as it hasn't hampered your meaning materially, is really working against you here. There's also a mismatch of "amounts of things" in your first sentence that obscures your meaning a bit. This is also a cool effect that's a little abstract, and admittedly hard to describe!

Also, "swathe" is a verb meaning to wrap or bind with bandages, like swaddling. The word you want here is "swath".

Here's my suggested rewrite of the whole page, using some anchor words ("material" and "target") to distinguish between the two types of "target" used by this focus:

You can use this focus to trade blocks in the world with blocks you are carrying.

First, choose the block that will be used as material by sneaking and right clicking. You may have to place a block from your inventory in the world, if one is not readily available, to set the material. Once your material is set, left click on the target block to replace it with the material block type. If you right click on a target without sneaking, you will replace a whole swath of blocks of the same type as the target, provided you have enough material.

The target blocks you transform will replace the material blocks in your inventory in an equal trade. Only blocks with at least one side open to the air will be transformed.

We need a comma after "Like with the focus of equal trade".

For further clarity, you may want to change "block face" to basically any other compound construction, such as: "blockface", "the face of a block", or "block-face". I prefer "the face of a block" for maximum clarity and prettiness, personally.

A lot of these errors are related to word choices, along with the usual ones found elsewhere. Here is one suggested way you could revise this page and correct everything in one fell swoop. Feel free to copy and paste, if you like, and I'm happy to elaborate on my reasoning if you want, as I did materially change some of the wording.

Foci, by their very nature, can usually only create instantaneous effects. This makes them unsuitable for applications such as flight or easing the burden of a traveler. You are not one to shy away from a challenge, however, and the Grappler Focus is a testament to your ingenuity.

This focus launches a tether of elemental energy that attaches to blocks, and then pulls you toward them. It is useful for traversing gaps, scaling heights, or just getting around quickly. Pressing the sneak key will detach the tether. The Potency upgrade increases its range.

This is the 2nd page of the Focal Manipulation research. You want either "is double the cost" or "doubles the cost" without "is". You also want a comma after "applied at certain ranks" and after "to remove unwanted upgrades".

I would suggest using "or only if certain prerequisites have been taken at lower ranks." rather than your existing phrasing. First, it's clear from the context that you're talking about upgrades. Second, "prerequisites" is fewer characters than "requisite upgrades", and we can't say "requisites" by itself without being weird. Third, you want "have been" instead of "had been", for complicated grammatical reasons.

"Had been" is past perfect tense, implying that the requisites were taken but are no longer taken; on, then off. "Have been" (and, incidentally, "has been", though we should use "have" to preserve our amounts of things) are present perfect continuations, meaning the requisites were taken and continue to be taken, they're still there. Here's a chart:

Comma after "in addition". This is more of a stylistic thing, but ellipses... they're not... super grammatical. This one could easily be changed into a comma and look much cleaner, imo.

I'm not sure that I've ever heard someone say "all good and well". I think the phrase is "all well and good". Might be a regional thing? "Specially crafted" should be a hyphenate, "Specially-crafted". Same with "vis-holding". Also, "rechargeable" or "rechargable" are the spellings you want there, depending on whether you're American or not, haha.

Comma after "Most of the time". You want "when" instead of "that": "there are occasions when the vis it stores".

"Tendency"

Commas after "regarding the aura", "As the name suggests", before and after "however". "affected" in place of "effected".

There are exceptions, but in 99% of cases, the quick rule you can remember is that "affect" is a verb, "effect" is a noun. Vis-a-vis: "Her magic spells's effect affected me strongly." Note the subtle difference if you were to phrase the same idea like this: "Her magic spell had a strong effect." In the second case, it's not stated on what the effect is acting, so there's nothing to affect.

"Affect" can be a noun when it refers to the way someone's face and body are used to express their thoughts and emotions, but this is more of a technical term, found in psychology (or used by people speaking pretentiously). Ex: "During therapeutic interactions, the patient's affect was notably flat." I also included a comma clause to start off that sentence, just so this paragraph is at least a little germane to the report, haha.

There are also cases where "effect" can be used as a verb, but again, you're probably not going to use it like that. Ex: "We hope to be able to effect some improvements by September of next year." See how archaic and weird that sounds? It always requires you to use more words to clarify what you're talking about. So, just think "effect = noun, affect = verb" and you'll be fine.

When you say "what type of vis is effected", it makes it sound like vis is a result or a process that can be effected, rather than the target of something affecting it.

Comma after "move nodes around". And you want "ensure" instead of "insure" ("insure" is a verb meaning to take out an insurance policy on something).

[applebaps]

After exploring github's functionality a bit more, I've discovered that I can just pull the file and make the changes myself! I'll probably start that tonight after work.