Toki Pona Check List

- Does it have a “li” somewhere? If not, is the subject mi or sina? - Does mi or sina have modifiers? Check if the modifiers could be intelligble confused with verbs. - Is a question, does it have “li” (verb) anu (verb) or an “anu seme” tag? - Do all the “pi” phrases have 2 words after it? - If you have 3 or more words in a noun phrase, does it need a “pi” to reduce ambiguity? - Do you have an “e” before the object? (Droping accusative markers is an Anglicism) - Do you have a “tawa” before indirect objects? (Droping dative markers is an Anglicism) Are nouns first and modifiers second? Did you put a tan phrase in the la phrase? If so try to move the tan phrase to the end.

if a then b —> a la b

wrong* because of a then b –> tan a la b

b because a –> b tan a

- Do proper modifiers have something to modify? - Are prepositional phrases at the end? - Can you move anything to the “la” phrase to simplify the main sentence? - Do you have two direct objects? Use the e (noun) e (noun) instead of e (noun) en (noun) - Do you have two verbs? Use the li (verb) li (verb) instead of li (verb) en (verb) - Are you talking to somone? Did you forget the vocative exists? (Dropping vocatives is an Anglicism)

Sticklers Check List

- Are prepositions officially propositions in the canon? - Is that verb officially transitive (i.e. can take an “e” phrase) - Is that officially a verb, noun or modifier?

Spelling Check List

- Did you confuse any of the minimal pairs? ale/ali, ilo/ijo, ko/kon, meli/moli, pini/pipi, kin/ken - Did you confuse the “e” and “i” (in naive English pronunciation, many i and e’s in toki pona are pronounced as e. E.g. kin, “next of kin”. Ken, mans name, “beyond my ken”) - Did you confuse any final vowels? You brain knows that the final and internal vowels are superflous in most words, so expect mispellings there. - Are antecedants obvious? If not consider repeating the head of the noun phrase.

jan Mato en soweli pi linja uta li lon ni. mi lukin e ona. –> jan Mato en soweli pi linja uta li lon ni. mi lukin e soweli.

Style Check List