'Tis spelt "ciao," I b'lieve.

There is something that you should know not just for the sake of being correct but also for the sake of learning something you wouldn't expect to be true.
I noticed how you said that a highly advanced society will probably have more complex grammar than a less civilized or "primitive" one. This, believe it or not, is NOT the case. In fact, tribal languages such as the ones spoken by indigenous Africans and Australians (to name a few) are more complex by far than some "modern" or "first world" languages, like English.
The reason for this is because the more contact a language has with other languages, the more simplified it becomes. Arab traders might ignore some rule of Greek grammar (this is just an example, and might not even be true), and over time, people will realize how much easier it is to say things that way rather than the old fashioned way.
A fine example of this simplification is English. It is descended from so many different languages: notably Latin and Germanic tongues. But it is a lot simpler than them. Look at German's nigh-baroque inflectional system! So many variations of the articles! And gender has been lost, too! We no longer distinguish between the 2nd-person singular (thou) and the 2nd-person plural (you). And it's all because of foreigners who have adapted the language to suit their own, thus (inadvertently) making it simpler.
On the other hand, languages that have seen little or no contact with other cultures (usually because their society is a tribal or "primitive" one) retain their original complexity.

I hope this hasn't been too wordy. It probably has. I just get carried away when I explain something to someone else.

Cheers! (Even though I'm not British)
—Joey Hathaway

I love this. Very much. Thank you. It's really helpful since I'm currently inventing a language for a fantasy setting I've just created.

Thank you for the advice. I definitely plan to make frequent reference to this in the future. I knew I would be inventing several languages for my own fantasy series and world (at least four, and quite possibly more than a dozen), and this advice certainly helps--especially the consonant-vowel consistency advice, to help it feel like a coherent thing.

very informative, witty, and enjoyable! I used to love making conlangs, and I even half-finished making one a couple years back, but then I didn't really know what to do except make up words, so this is very helpful for me! thank you!

this is an amazing guide! I added it to my C2, which is a collection of writing tips. I don't think I'll be constructing languages any time soon, but this was certainly an interesting read. one of my friends is in linguistics, so I get to hear about this kind of thing all the time, though this is the first time I've seen all this info in a useful, organized guide.

keep up the great work!

HA HA! You're back! Huzzah! I like this section...especially because I never really understood what transitive vs. intransitive verbs were to begin with, but now I do! Hee hee. Thanks! Super! And I hope you post more soon!

Yeah! Update! Great new chapter! He he! I love trying to use proper nouns in scrabble, then of course my brother yells at me that that doesn't count. And the title of this chapter is very funny. *grin* Puns are great! I wish they had explained grammar like this to me back when I was in 3rd grade. He he. I actually began to understand this much later. But I love this essay. You should write a book. Maybe the next generation of kids can learn grammar right!

Well, I won't do any grammar correcting, it's not my strong suit! *g* Never heard the word adverbial, seems reasonable enough to me though. I'll be waiting for more!

yeahness! A new update! I like this a bunch! Thanks for the essay! I can't wait for more! Maybe I will acutally have a structured idea of how to make a language next time thnx. I love the references to Tolkien!

ooh! This chapter was great! I should make up rules for my languages, becuase usually I just hit random keys and see what goes with the flow of the language. *thinks* ooh! Brillant!

Let me just say this: damn you. Now I want to go and make a language.

This was rather help! Thank you very much! I was kind of going out of my mind trying to make up a language form my story, but now you have simplified the process!

ooh good! I've always wondered what to do about this, especially with peoples who began as one race and split apart. Usually I just end up creating ENTIRELY different languages, but this makes much more sense! Thanks!

(Too lazy to log in =) I'm actually in this position. I've been building a world for a fantasy story for a while now...New races, geography, history, and I was actually wondering if I should have everyone speak different languages or the same one...well, this is just what I needed, thanks!