Search results for 'tag:Before and After tag:Hyphens' matching tags 'Before and After' and 'Hyphens'

Re: Help for my english exam !

abbie1948 — Sat, 14 May 2005 14:48:53 GMT

Welcome mira,

this latest literary WET-KISS to Kubrick is a very heavy book

I think this means that the book is sycophantic, i.e. fawning or obsequious.

You could use it for a bookmark IF the book didn't already have one of those cloth bookmarks sewn into its spine

"If" is used here together with the conditional "could" because the author is speaking of an imaginary situation.

"If it didn't have a bookmark, then you would be able to use the CD as a bookmark"

"Later Kubrick MOVIES-FROM "2001" ON-MOVIE in GREAT BIG CHUNKS

The first problem with this sentence is that there should be a space before and after the hyphen

"Later Kubrick movies - from "2001" on - move in great big chunks"

I think the author is saying that the films are comprised not so much of a smooth narrative, as of big sections of specific action, which are then rapidly followed by another big section of action. His allegory of the box cars trudling up one after the other is very picturesque.

Re: Some grammar

odoriko — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 18:28:10 GMT

1) The "has" is required because it shows that it's a present perfect tense, ie. Jones denied using drugs in the past and at present, is still denying it. It's a repetition and continuation of the verb (denied) from the past to the present. If you say "Jones consistently denied", it implies that he only denied it in the past and is no longer denying it.

2) The word "line-up" with a hyphen is a common noun, eg. a line-up of footballers. "Line up" without the hyphen denotes a verb, eg. please line up before the train arrives.

3) "For one" as used in that sentence means "according to her opinion". You're right when you say that it is a more forceful expression.

4) Using commas to seperate "I", "for one", and the rest of the sentence is actually correct, and a more formal way of writing. Another (often unknown) use of commas is before an "and" when 3 objects are being discussed, because it denotes that there's no special relation between what comes before and after the "and". This sounds confusing, so here's an example:

I love apples, bananas, and pears.
I love apples, bananas and pears.

The 1st sentence is correct because there's no special relation between the bananas and pears, just as there's no special relation between the apples and bananas. If you write the 2nd sentence instead, it actually means that you like either apples, or "bananas and pears" together. However, this is more on the formal side, most people won't bother with it, and teachers will probably overlook it.

Please correct me if I made any mistake.

Re: The Punctuation FAQ

corgilan — Sun, 09 May 2004 20:28:42 GMT

Thanks very much for taking the time to post this FAQ!

I am new to this forum and looking for information on the use of the en dash and em dash.

I am a graphic designer and web designer. I am currently taking a course in which the instructor provided the following information about these punctuation marks. However, there was quite a lot of discussion about them and the accuracy of the information supplied. So, I thought I would put them forward here to see if you could provide and validation or corrections.

Thanks in advance for your help.

corgilan

Hyphen (-):
In punctuation, use only for hyphenating words.
There are no spaces before or after the hyphen.

In writing mathematical expressions, use as the subtraction operand.
[Note: I do not know the spacing rules on this when used as the minus sign]

Example Uses:
This is an example of a sen-
tence that contains a hyphen.

En dash (â):
This character is the same width as the capital letter N of the font being used. Use en dash when expressing a range of values, dates, or times. Use one space before and after the en dash character.

Example Uses:
10 â 12 students
May 15, 2004 â June 23, 2004
10:00AM â 11:00AM
[Note that the AM or PM after the time is supposed to be in small caps, but this font doesn't have that readily available so I can't put it in the post that way. Does anyone know if the convention of small caps is outdated or if it supercedes using regular caps?]

Em dash(â):
This character is the same width as the capital letter M of the font being used. Use em dash within a sentence to indicate an abrupt change in thought. There are no spaces before or after the em dash character.

Example Uses:
I am typing a post to this forumâI must go take the dog out now.

I'm not sure if my example is exactly right, but I do have to take the dog out.
(The dog would also like you to know that his emoticon doesn't seem to be working.)