Search results for 'tag:Clauses tag:Punctuation' matching tags 'Clauses' and 'Punctuation'

Re: until the

New2grammar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:36:29 GMT

CalifJim
Only if there's a fairly long pause before the second until clause. The pause will be interpreted as that is.

That's what I thought because the reporter did that. However, when I transcribed the line I got misinterpreted. I guess I didn't use the right punctuation. How do you represent a long pause? a dash or three dots.

Thanks.

use of a dash

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:23:31 GMT

Hi,

I am not too sure about the punctuation for certain dash use cases.

Case involving a relative clause: aw He spend hours day and night writing newspaper articles -- and, of course, not going out with his friends as he ususally did on weekends -- but he couldn't finish it on time. Sad case, indeed.

Case involving a long content: Study is the priority here, and it is so in every school -- it's the priority in our personal life, that we be men and women of learning whom parents have called us to be.
Q: How long a content should the content after a dash be??

Case involving a subordinate clause: Although he may lack in discipline -- and many people think so too -- he continued to work on the task of writing the book.

Re: Punctuation-commas and so on

bhikkhu1991 — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:38:52 GMT

Hello Mister Micawber,

I have recently found out the rule of commas in the 'Guide to Grammar and Writing' is contradicting your remark, ' the second requires a comma between independent clauses'.

When a coordinating conjunction connects two independent clauses, it is often (but not always) accompanied by a comma:

Ulysses wants to play for UConn, but he has had trouble meeting the academic requirements.

When the two independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction are nicely balanced or brief, many writers will omit the comma:

Ulysses has a great jump shot but he isn't quick on his feet.

Thank you.

With best wishes.

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: Punctuation-commas and so on

bhikkhu1991 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:27:42 GMT

Hello RonBee,

I would like to thank you for your suggestion. However, do you mean that your sentence below is also in informal writing? In formal writing, 'Thus' and 'then' are always followed by commas, am I right?

Thus it would be: "He usually has a shower; then he has a shave and brushes his teeth."

I am sure that the 'then' in the independent clause 'then he has a shave and brushes his teeth' can be placed in the middle and end position, that is, 'he then has a shave and brushes his teeth' and 'he has a shave and brushes his teeth then'. Do you agree?

Thank you.

With best wishes.

Re: Punctuation-commas and so on

Mister Micawber — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:58:51 GMT

.
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.

This is a mundane description of a daily activity. The semicolon and subsequent comma in the second sentence break the sentence into formal segments that do not reflect the quick, quotidian flow of banal activities. If there were not a subject in the second clause of the first sentence, I would eliminate its lone comma, too:

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

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.

Re: Punctuation-commas and so on

Mister Micawber — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:58:35 GMT

.
He gets up at 6.15 am and goes to the bathroom. He usually has a shower, and then he has a shave and brushes his teeth. He eats breakfast at about 7.00am. After breakfast, he reads the newspaper.

1. Is the extract above punctuated correctly? -- It is now.

2. Why are commas required in the first and second sentences? -- I have fixed the 1st sentence; the second requires a comma between independent clauses.

3. Why does the last sentence have no comma after 'breakfast'? -- It does now.

Re: Complex sentences, restrictive clauses, and comma usage

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:27:35 GMT

Punctuation for a dependent clause that follows the conjunction between two coordinate clauses is described in the 12th rev. edition of the Chicago Manual of Style under section 5.30. Clear advice according to open or closed punctuation styles is given.

Redfern

Re: Grammar Suggestion

Mr Wordy — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:50:54 GMT

To me it seems cluttered rather than stronger. Obviously with these style questions there isn't a "right" or "wrong" answer, and different people will have different ideas and preferences. Having said that, I'd be surprised if many native English speakers thought that your original sentence read well (even with the minimum corrections). A lot depends on the way that the sentence is constructed and the type of information that it contains -- not just on the numerical adjective count. Some writers might be able to pack a lot of adjectives into a single sentence and still achieve a good result.

The minimum changes that I would make to correct the punctuation and grammar in your original sentence are:

1. The soft evening rays, landing on my the empty English assignment ~~empty~~ page ~~over~~ on my clean writing desk beside the ~~opened~~ open window at right, ~~pouring~~ covering the white sheet with ~~its~~ their pale yellow and orange shades, seemed like gold.

But stylistically this is, as I say, far from elegant. In particular, the middle clause ("landing ... at right") runs on interminably.

Sentence #2 does not suffer quite so much from adjective overload and clauses that run on and on. The minimum changes I would make are:

2. Today, in these natural colors coming through the ~~opened~~ open window, ~~adjusted~~ ?? over the high blue wall, I feel much relaxed -- light as fur, the dark ~~clould~~ cloud of stress ~~seems to be~~ seemingly fading away.

"Adjusted" is not right here, but I don't really understand what you are trying to say. With a few more slight tweaks this sentence could be OK I think.

3. An egg-shaped wooden silver-brown frame ~~hanged~~ hung by a thick brown thread over ~~the~~ a nail, ~~waged at upper right wall~~ ??, quietly ~~posturing~~ ?? the childhood golden days.

Too many adjectives. I also don't understand what you mean by "waged" and "posturing". Those words don't fit here.