Search results for 'tag:Adverbs tag:Commas' matching tags 'Adverbs' and 'Commas'

Re: Filipinisms/Filipinoisms? Ring a bell?

Mister Micawber — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:07:37 GMT

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I would consider this exercise damagingly prescriptive; most are neither uniquely Filipino nor wrong. However (and my comments refer to AmE/BrE):

1. Free subscription of... (Free subscription toâ¦) - prepo issue-- AmE/BrE uses the collocation subscribe to.
2. Can I speak withâ¦? (May I speak withâ¦) - To sound more polite/ask permission?-- Both OK. 'Can' is more casual but just as common.
3. Come again? (I'm sorry I didn't get quite get that / Excuse me? / I'm sorry would you please say that again?) - English trainers discourage agents to use this because they say that it could mean 'cum again')-- The English trainers are nuts. Come again is common and casual. Your examples in parentheses are overly formal for most situations.
4. It's for free! (It's free. / It's free of charge. / We're sending it to you for free.) - Filipinos have been used to saying 'It's for free'. How do I say that it should be avoided? What makes it wrong?-- Nothing makes it wrong; it's fine.
5. Hold your line/For awhileâ¦ (Would you mind if I put you on hold for a second? / Please hold) - hold your line is absurd. any comment? what about for awhile?-- I agree that 'Hold your line' is not natural in AmE/BrE. 'Please hold' or 'Could you hold, please' is the usual.
6. Open/ close the light/computer (Turn on/off the light/TV/computer) - how do I explain this? it sounds like opening/closing the tv for repair.- This seems to be a direct translation from Spanish? Tagalog? At least, it is the same error that Japanese make.
7. Do you mind waiting? Yes, I'll wait. (No, not at all. / No, I don't mind at all.) - YES is the issue. wrong response. any other feedback?-- 'Yes' is logically wrong but common when the tag ( e.g. 'I'll wait') is also present; speakers seldom have the opportunity to stop and think about the 'Do you mind?' form, and this includes native AmE/BrE speakers.
8. Anything? (Is there anything I can do for you? / How may I help you?) - fragmented, seems vague?-- Yes, it seems vague and fragmentary out of context.
9. I'll ask her an apology. (I'll apologize to her. / I should make an apology.) - this sounds illogical?-- Not a natural AmE/BrE formation.
10. We take lunch. (We eat lunch. / We have lunch (every Sunday).)-- 'Take' seems to be an occasional replacement in this context in many Englishes. It is not an egregious variation.
11. We accept repairs. (This shop repairs cars/cellphones, etc.)-- Seems fine to me.
12. We accept painting jobs. (This shop does painting jobs.)- Quite common.
13. Tuck out (Untuck)- Odd.
14. He was salvaged. (He was assassinated.)-- A new meaning for the word for me, and it is not in the dictionary. Perhaps some confusion with 'savaged'?
15. She delivered her baby yesterday. (She had her baby yesterday. / Dr. Smith delivered her baby.)-- This is fine. From the dictionary-- 'to give birth to: She delivered twins at 4 a.m. '
16. Xerox (Photocopy)-- Very common in AmE at least. Among my generation, 'to xerox' is perhaps more usual than 'to photocopy'.
17. Oppositor (Opposition member)-- A new word for me. Not a bad formation, but perhaps difficult to understand by foreigners.
18. Hand carry (Carry - on luggage)-- A new word, but reasonable.
19. It's traffic today. (Traffic is heavy.) -- It seems vague and fragmentary
20. Senatoriable (Senatorial candidate) -- Odder than #17
21. At around 2pm (At about 2pm) - around is Am? about is Brit?- Very common in AmE; it also appears with this meaning in the Cambridge dictionary.
22. I failed in Accent training. (I failed accent training.)-- A common expression, though I prefer your alternative.
23. We were under Mr. Johnson. (Mr. Johnson was our teacher.) - Filipinos are used to saying 'That student is under my class' so this filipinism has started.-- In context, 'We were under Mr. Johnson' sounds fine, while 'That student is under my class' does not.
24. My brother is taking up law. (My brother is taking law. / My brother is studying law.) -- 'Take up' is common, but means the overall intention, not just the matriculation.
25. Where are you studying? (Where do you go to school? / What school do you go to?)- 'Where are you studying' is fine.
26. Pass by my office before you go. (Drop by my office before you go.) - Brit/Am phrasal?-- Not AmE, at least. 'Stop by' or 'Drop by'.
27. We have one participant only. (We only have one participant.) - should they say 'only one participant'?-- The 'only' can go in several places; at the end is one of those places.
28. I talked to her already. (I already talked to her.) - I need help on adverb order. This confuses all Filipinos and me too. Where should adverbs be placed?- Adverbs are relatively variable in their placement. In this case, both are all OK. More interesting is that AmE uses simple past more consistently with 'yet' and 'already' than does BrE, which prefers the perfect aspect.
29. Will you be at the office at 7am? Actually. (Will you be at the office at 7am? Yes.)-- Not AmE/BrE
30. Actually, I like Jennifer Aniston. (I like Jennifer Aniston.) - Actually/basically has become Filipinos expressions.-- I wouldn't say that it is unique to Filipinos; many AmE speakers develop the habit in various contexts. Too much is too much, however.
31. As per Paul, all request forms should be signed by him. (As per Paul's instructions, all request forms should be signed by him.)-- This is common bizspeak throughout the English-speaking world.
32. Wanted: Sewer (Wanted: Tailor or seamstress)-- Yes, it is certainly open to misinterpretation! But 'seamstress' is sexist.
33. Take home (Take it home / To go. / For take out)-- 'Take home food' seems like a regional variant of 'take out food'.
34. I felt kind of tired. (I felt rather tired.)-- 'Kind of' is very common in informal AmE.
35. As to the projectâ¦ (About the projectâ¦)-- A common formality in most Englishes.
36. Thank you for that/this one. (Thank you for the information. / Thank you.) - I need to send this in a few minutes and I still couldn't think of an explanation. Phrasing sounds awkward to me. But besides getting straight to the point, why did 'for that/this one' make it wrong?-- 'One' is wrongly used; 'information' is uncountable.
37. I do love playing basketball/volleyball. (I love playing basketball/volleyball.) - this may sound right depending on the flow of the conversation, right? e.g. you don't love playing... No, I do...-- You are correct. This is called the emphatic 'do'.
38. Currently, I live in Quezon City right now. (Currently, I live in Quezon City. / I live in Quezon City.) - redundant - now and currently.- Yes, redundant.
39. Actually, I like Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe (I like Microsoft Symantec and Adobe)-- The comma is necessary if Microsoft and Symantec are different softwares.
40. As per Mon, all request forms should be signed by him. (As per Paul's instructions, all request forms should be signed by him.)-- This is the same as #31, and OK.
41. I do apologize (I apologize.)-- This is fine indeed. It is the same as #37, and is more polite than your bracketed alternative.
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Re: where

Taka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:15:10 GMT

Avangi
I But "where" is clearly not a conjunction.

Is it really that obvious?

This would still make sense, wouldn't it?

WhereÂ a town was crowded with a whole bunch of clones, which is an extreme case, there would be practical problems.Â

Anyway that is not what I really wondering about.

I first thought it might be a relative adverb, but if it was so, I thought it should be the restrictive (i.e. the one without a comma in front). Don't you think the non-restrictive is kind of strange here?

Re: now and comma

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:17:00 GMT

Thank you.

What do you mean by "temporally"? Does it relate to time?

I have the similar problem with 'thus' and 'also'. I think they are adverbs and 'thus' seems like one-syllable word.

Should I place a comma after this?

I don't have money, thus I cann't buy a cookie.
I don't have money and thus (a comma??) it wouldn't be possible to buy a cookie.
I am not poor, but also I am not super rich.

Re: comma after a conjunctive adverb?

26TMNTJG2PG — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:25:24 GMT

Correction: All the fragments provided by you appear OK as quite often commas which are necessary are omitted if the sentence or sentences are clear enough without them.

Re: comma after a conjunctive adverb?

26TMNTJG2PG — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:46:42 GMT

All the fragments provided by you appear OK as quite often commas which are necessary are omitted if the sentence or sentences are clear enough with them.

comma after a conjunctive adverb?

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:14:42 GMT

Hi,

I think the words 'in the mean time" and "finally" are conjunctive adverbs and can be said to be sentence adverbs, (I think) meaning they modify the whole sentences/clauses.

I have trouble if any of these conjucntive adverbs comes after the conjunction "and" in that I am not sure whether I need to put a comma (or commas) or not.

Have seen these bits from the Google Book search:

... and, in the meantime, the mortgagor bacame ...
... and, in the meantime, honoured me with his own remarks, ...
... and in the meantime you will be
..., andin the meantime, applied part of the rents and profits ...

Punctuation-Why no commas and so on?

bhikkhu1991 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:11:58 GMT

Hello,

Could you tell why the following words 'then' have no commas immediately after them? Are they not connective adverbs and why does Sentence B have no punctuation between independent clauses?

Sentence A. Why don't you hire a car? Then you'll be able to visit more of the area.

Sentence B. She's been very busy at work and then there was all that trouble with her son. (These two sentences are examples from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7th edition.)

Thank you.

With best wishes.

Re: conjunctive adverb and comma

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:26:33 GMT

Thank you so much.

I think you can add the conjunction 'and' to it to no. 1 and my argument is that that seems to be the typical case with conjunctive adverbs, not the practice of not putting a comma before conjunctive adverbs used below, ie, for example and namely.

1. ... no longer self-supporting, hence the decision to end it.
2cNo. 1 could be like this.
1. ... no longer self-supporting and hence, the decision to end it came about.

I think most of conjunctive adverbs seem to follow the above pattern:
borrowing from above sentence:
... no longer self-supporting and therefore came about a decision to end it.
... no longer self-supporting and in addition to it, it seems unlikely that it will ever be self-sufficient.

But these are not restricted to the pattern noted but seems that it can act like a subordinate clause.

2. Here in Denver, for example, ridership was up 8 percent ...
3. ... could lead to a less-stringent step, namely requiring selllers to ...
4. ...admitted that the collaboration unforeseen events, namely a sudden gaping hole in the main-stage season.
5. ... make a decision on what to do with Rivers and thus, challenged ...

Why is that?

conjunctive adverb and comma

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:36:19 GMT

Hi,
I think there are many conjunctive adverbs and some are noted here. But what baffles me the use of a comma before certain conjunctive adverbs and tag what looks to be parenthetical phrases. I feel only certain conjunctive adverbs are allowed? to have such a structure, whereas most of them don't. Why is that?
Some tidbits from the New York Times Search:
1. ... no longer self-supporting, hence the decision to end it.
2. Here in Denver, for example, ridership was up 8 percent ...
3. ... could lead to a less-stringent step, namely requiring selllers to ...
4. ...admitted that the collaboration unforeseen events, namely a sudden gaping hole in the main-stage season.
5. ... make a decision on what to do with Rivers and thus, challenged ...
If you look at no. 5, it has the conjunction 'an' and 'thus' comes after it. I feel most, if not all, conjunctive adverbs can acustom themselves to this type of structure, but no. 1 though 4 seem to have one more way to avail themselves apart from most other conjunctive adverbs. Why it that? What do I habve to do to learn to punctuate and write properly?

Re: Punctuation-commas and so on

bhikkhu1991 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:14:34 GMT

Hello Mister Micawber,

I appreciate your kind reply. Here, I would like to point out the second sentence that has two independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb is required to be separated by a semicolon. Further, a comma is then needed after the conjunctive adverb 'then'. I have recently found out about this information on the Internet, http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/grammar_subordinate.html , 'Subordinate Conjunction, Note 2, (B)'.

He usually has a shower, and then he has a shave and brushes his teeth.

He usually has a shower; then, he has a shave and brushes his teeth.

Thank you.

With best wishes.