Search results for 'tag:British English tag:Exclamation marks' matching tags 'British English' and 'Exclamation marks'

Re: Please correct my mistakes in business letter!

nona the brit — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 06:20:31 GMT

Dear Mr. Ericson! Do not end a salutation with an exclamation mark. In US English use a colon :, in British English use either a comma or nothing.

As you are already aware, Football Club âShahterâ(Donetsk) is about to build a new 5-star stadium, which meets all official UEFA requirements and will have no euqual anyway in the Ukraine. The new tender process has been completed and we are glad to invite you to provide the services of General contractor.

Your second paragraph is not clear. Is the company you are writing to making the presentation? How can you invite them to something they are doing themselves? Are you inviting the contractor along to a presentation being organised by the football club? Do you want the contractor to give a presentation at this meeting? At the moment you are mixing up all these ideas and it doesn't make sense.

FC Â«ShahterÂ» takes upon itself all the travel expenses including transfer, meals, and accommodation.

Thank you in advance.
Looking forward to your reply.

Re: You are a star?

MrPedantic — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:42:04 GMT

"You're a star!" is fairly common in both emails and spoken British English. There are some constraints on its usage, though:

1. It's mostly used by people under 40.

2. It's very seldom used by one male to another male.

3. It's characteristic of office life, rather than home life. (It would sound a little strange at home.)

Possible context: you email some information to a colleague. She emails back: "You are a STAR!" or "You are an absolute star!!!" or even "You are a *!!!!!".

(For some reason, the kind of people who use this phrase are also the kind of people who favour multiple exclamation marks.)

MrP

Re: Using Colon inside Quotes?

rommie — Wed, 07 Apr 2004 07:55:33 GMT

Well, both or neither, really, because "rules" governing punctuation aren't really "rules" in the sense that rules govening nouns, verbs and adjectives are rules. Punctuation "rules" vary considerably, often from publisher to publisher, or from newspaper to newspaper.

I can tell you that QUESTION MARKS and EXCLAMATION MARKS should go within quotes if they refer to the quoted material only; outside otherwise.

I can also tell you that COMMAS and PERIODS are usually place inside the quotes, but there are some exceptions in British English, and sometimes also when using monospaced fonts.

But I can't tell you a rule for COLONS, as I simply am not aware of one. Personally I'd place it outside the quotes - but that's just me.

The good news, though, is that whatever you choose to do, no-one can ever really tell you that you're wrong. The most important rule of all here is CONSISTENCY. Whatever you decide to do, stick with it throughout the whole document. If you chop and change, that will make it appear as though you don't know what you're doing.

Rommie