http://www.englishforums.com/English/EslGeneralEnglishGrammar-Questions/Forum12.htmAsk your questions on grammar and get your sentence checked. We answer lots of different types of general English grammar questions here. <font color=red>DO NOT post paragraphs and compositions here. Post them in our <a href="http://www.englishforums.com/English/EssayReportCompositionWriting/Forum9.htm"><b>Essay, Report and Composition Writing Forum</b></a>.</font>enXMOD (Build: 3614.32638)http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526779Sun, 24 May 2009 00:10:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:526779Mr Wordy0http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526779http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-526779.xmlThank you. Why the phrase &quot;a few&quot; is needed before &quot;weeks&quot;? Can we use &quot;few&quot; weeks to note our dissatisfaction with the number of weeks or to denote a negative sense??eg, few pens Thank you. Yes, exactly -- dissatisfaction or a negative sense (fewer than might be expected/wanted, a notably small number, etc.) There have been a few weeks better than this one = there have been some better weeks; this isn&#39;t the best. There have been few weeks better than this one = this is one of the best weeks; hardly any weeks have been better. Same with pens, and all sorts of other nouns. But &quot;few weeks ago&quot; is unnatural. So, you wouldn&#39;t say &quot; at our high school reunion few weeks ago...http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526599Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:10:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:526599Anonymous1http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526599http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-526599.xmlThank you. Why the phrase &quot;a few&quot; is needed before &quot;weeks&quot;? Can we use &quot;few&quot; weeks to note our dissatisfaction with the number of weeks or to denote a negative sense??eg, few pens Thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526521Sun, 24 May 2009 00:10:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:526521Marius Hancu2http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526521http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-526521.xml&gt;For dashes I often use two hyphens (--) I agree with Mr. Wordy on this in terms of e-mail. The (em)-dashes can be properly entered only in more complicated systems/applications. Mind you, in order to save energy, bandwidth and storage, I prefer plain text e-mail to the heavy thing.http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526518Sun, 24 May 2009 00:10:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:526518Mr Wordy3http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htm#526518http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-526518.xmlI just spotted a couple of typos (probably), one double space, and a couple of places where I&#39;d use commas. I was expecting your email, Jane; I am glad to receive it. I have one question though: did you decide on your wedding date? Are you marrying the dashing fellow you were with at our high s c hool reunion a few weeks ago? If that&#39;s him, you are a lucky girl. He looked so nice and, on top of that, he looked so gentlemanly. Please let me know the details. Bye. Proper punctuation in emails is to be commended, and you should punctuate them just as you would any other piece of text. For dashes I often use two hyphens (--), as you have. (Not only are proper dashes a pain to enter, but I&#39;m never entirely confident...http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htmTue, 24 Feb 2009 01:10:03 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:526509Anonymous4http://www.englishforums.com/English/Punctuation/gzcxc/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-526509.xmlHi, Could I be able to use what I call &quot;elaborate&quot; punctuation in emails, like using semicolons and dashes?? Can you correct this? eg, I was expecting your email, Jane; I am glad to receive it. I have one question though: did you decide on your wedding date? Are you marrying the dashing fellow you were with at our high shool reunion few weeks ago? If that&#39;s him -- you are a lucky girl. He looked so nice and on top of that, he looked so gentlemanly (when and how can we use this &quot;-ly&quot; words??). Please let me know the details. Bye.