Search results for 'tag:Colons tag:Exclamation marks' matching tags 'Colons' and 'Exclamation marks'

Re: colon dash

richard_s — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:13:17 GMT

Well traditional punctuation rules state that two independent clauses need to be separated either by a full stop /Â exclamationÂ mark, or by a semicolon.

Thus the following is quite proper:

I hate him so much; he killed my dog.

Now if you go back a bit a hundred to a hundred and fifty years, you will find that the colon itself used to have the same function. Â This use is still occasionally seen in modern writing. Â Thus, the colon use is not wrong, just old fashioned. Â

You certainly shouldn't put an exclamation mark before a colon.

Re: * >< [ ] ; ! :_ " What is it called in English?

Peaceblinkfriend — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:21:17 GMT

Welcome to Englishforums veronikad!

Those keyboard symbols which show feelings are called emoticons or smiley. :-DÂ

In maths, ' * ' this is called the times sign.Â

; Â Â - Â Â semicolon

( ) Â - Â Â brackets, round brackets, parenthesesÂ

People tend to use brackets are round brackets in Australia. In North America, parentheses is the more common term I think.

>Â Â and <Â Â Â

x > 3 Â - x is greater than 3

x < 3 Â - x is less than 3

tom_school@***.com - Â Â Â "_" is called underscore

!Â Â - exclamation mark

âÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â two dots over the word, and what it is called when a word isÂ Â âwithinâÂ Â ? Â - Â I don't really know what people call this.Â

%Â Â Â percentage

: Â Â colon

âÂ Â Â Â apostrophe

!=Â Â Â how do you say that in programming terms? Â Â - I don't know

>=Â Â Â how do you say that in programming terms? Â Â - greater than or equal to

I don't know much about programming unfortunately. Sorry but I can't help you with the other terms. I was never good at programming when I took up computer last year.

Hope it helps.Â

PBF

Re: Please, which is the correct way?

Grammar Geek — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:24:57 GMT

Brunces wrote:
Doubt #2

Sometimes, I see periods which contain direct speech within quotes. For example:

The father arrived home and said, "Honey, I'm here!" and then dropped his briefcase on the couch.

1) Is the writing this period correct? Shouldn't I use colon before the direct speech? I never do this. He said, [comma]

The father arrived home and said: "Honey, I'm here!", then he dropped his briefcase on the couch.

2) When the direct speech is at the end of the sentence, where should I put the period? You don't need one. The end of the quotation serves as the end punctuation for the entire sentence.

Example: The father arrived home, dropped his briefcase on the couch and said "Honey, I'm here!" (???)

Do I have to put a period after the final quote? ... "Honey, I'm here!". Absolutely no.

Is the exclamation mark considered the final punctuation of the sentence? ... "Honey, I'm here!" Yes.

What if the direct speech final punctuation is a regular period? ... "Honey, I'm here." (???) There is agreement that the period goes inside the quotes in this case.

Do I have to put another period after the final quote? ... "Honey, I'm here.". No.

Is the first period considered the last punctuation of the sentence? ... "Honey, I'm here." Yes.

This is a style issue and will vary depending on which style guide you follow. The additional quirk is that in the US, the period and comma always, always go inside the quotes, even if it would not naturally fall there. The man came home and started to greet hsi wife, calling out "Honey, I'm...," but that was as far as he got before he noticed the dead wildebeast in his favorite recliner.

Please, which is the correct way?

Brunces — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:10:51 GMT

Hello, friends.

Please, which is the correct way and why?

Doubt #1

"color of the car" x "car color" x "car's color"
"leg of the cat" x "cat leg" x "cat's leg"
"pizza of yesterday" x "yesterday pizza" x "yesterday's pizza"

I've heard that Genitive Case is used only with nouns which are "living creatures" (humans, animals, etc.)? Is that true? So, "car's color" would be incorrect because "car" is not a living creature. So, when do I have to use OF, Genitive case or "nothing"?

Doubt #2

Sometimes, I see periods which contain direct speech within quotes. For example:

The father arrived home and said "Honey, I'm here!", then he dropped his briefcase on the couch.

1) Is the writing this period correct? Shouldn't I use colon before the direct speech?

The father arrived home and said: "Honey, I'm here!", then he dropped his briefcase on the couch.

2) When the direct speech is at the end of the sentence, where should I put the period? Example:

The father arrived home, dropped his briefcase on the couch and said "Honey, I'm here!" (???)

Do I have to put a period after the final quote? ... "Honey, I'm here!".

Is the exclamation mark considered the final punctuation of the sentence? ... "Honey, I'm here!"

What if the direct speech final punctuation is a regular period? ... "Honey, I'm here." (???)

Do I have to put another period after the final quote? ... "Honey, I'm here.".

Is the first period considered the last punctuation of the sentence? ... "Honey, I'm here."

Thank you very much for your attention, guys.

Hugs,

brunces

Re: The exclamation mark

Grammar Geek — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:45:48 GMT

A little, yes. Use a colon, perhaps, or even a question mark. Too many exclamation marks can look silly. (I use way too many in my e-mail to friends.)

Re: How is the grammar on this?

Lil' Ruby Rose — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 08:39:23 GMT

I believe that the ghost that has appeared before me truly is my fatherâs spirit, and that everything it has said is true. The ghost did not flee before Horatioâs âcross,â [no quotation marks needed here] and it shows Christian forbearance towards my âcommonâ [not quite the right word here, and why have you used quotation marks?] mother. Thus, I have no choice but to believe that this spirit truly is my fatherâs and not a devil trying to imitate him. I have little choice, then: I must avenge his spirit, and kill my uncle, Claudius! My fatherâs spirit calls to me, and I must avenge his foul murder!

This is not a selfish act of revenge, but an act of justice. Claudius is a tyrant: he killed a king, and worse, he killed his own brother, all to satisfy his own [repetition of own - redundant here, all your private ambitions are your own] private ambitions. He is guilty of a sacrilegious attack upon the hierarchy and order instituted by natural law; by killing my father, Claudius destroyed this natural order, and it is my responsibility to right this wrong!

The killing of my uncle must be done quickly, and discretely. Claudius is no fool, and I am certain that the blood upon his hands will cause him to become paranoid; he will undoubtedly reach a stage where he deems it necessary to eliminate all threats in order to secure [consolidate?] his power and I am certain that I would be [will be or am going to be] his first target. So I must act [strike?] first! [no exclamation mark here] I cannot poison my uncle or assassinate him in public. Such acts are [respectively?] too cowardly and too dangerous; a public murder could result in me being tried for treason. [the two parts of this sentence don't follow each other. I would use a colon after public, then full stop after dangerous and make the second clause a separate sentence]

The most discrete and most practical method of killing my uncle would be to stab him as he is sleeping with my âincestuousâ [why quotation marks?] mother. Being the prince means I can walk around the castle freely and carry my sword without arousing suspicion. At night, I could simply slip in, cover Claudiusâ mouth to suppress his screams, and stab at his heart! [stab him in/through the heart - no exclamation mark] Then, I can wake my mother and explain to her the reason for the assassination. This would fully comply with my fatherâs wishes, as not only would my uncle be dead, but my mother would not be harmed directly. All would soon be well.

The next [following] day, I will deal with the court and the public. The latter would be easy to deal with [repetition of deal with - appease/placate?], as I am loved by the people, and they will quickly accept me over Claudius. Further, the common people would not dare interfere in the affairs of kings; they will not make too much commotion, I am sure. The court, however, will be harder to convince and silence. Questions will be asked, and I will have to answer [them or which I will have to answer]. Nevermind! [Never mind is two words, it's not quite the right choice of phrase here, and no exclamation point] I am the heir to the throne and the court could not, in reality, do anything. I could silence any who oppose my power [I would either say anyone who opposes or all who oppose]; I am, after all, the rightful Prince [at this point, surely Hamlet is the rightful King rather than just the Prince?]of Denmark! I will soon be elected [by definition, kings are not elected] king and [will] rule over my people justly; just as my father did, and just as he expects me to do.

Looks pretty good to me. You have a lot of long and rather complex sentence constructions here (heavy on the semicolons!), but the declamatory tone seems quite appropriate.

Re: Translation into English 19/02

Hela — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:12:04 GMT

In French you would leave a space between a word and a semi-colon, a colon, a question mark and an exclamation mark.

By the way, there's another technical term in English for "suspention marks", what is it?

All the best

Re: Is full stop before or after quotation marks?

J Lewis — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 17:20:05 GMT

I sometimes use the word "clever" when describing a person.
Here it is clear that the full stop has nothing to do with the quoted word and is part of the main sentence. The word "clever" doesn't need its own full stop. If we are quoting somebody speaking, then the quoted speech needs its own punctuation, which falls inside the quotes.
They said, "He's very clever." Note that a true quote begins with a capital letter.
What about commas?
If I don't like the word "clever", I say "smart" or something similar. Where would others put the comma in this case?

More problems arise with question and exclamation marks, which have the value of a full stop.
She said, "I love you!" This means she said it forcefully. The exclamation is hers.
She said, "I love you"! This shows that the speaker is over the moon about the fact that she loves him. The exclamation is the speaker's.

How about this one:
Did he really shout "Stop!"?
Here I should also put a question mark after "How about this one:" but it seems excessive! And would I put it before or after the colon?! Or even after the quote?!

To be logical, we should end a lot of sentences with full stop, end of quote, second full stop. We don't do this and the decision as to where to put the single full stop can be rather arbitrary.

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: please.... help me.. (:'_':)

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 00:20:31 GMT

Hope it'll do...

Dear Rayne,

How are you? I really hope that you and all of your family members are always in the pink of health. [why an exclamation mark?] We haven't [never? too emphatic] met each other for the past two years ever since you decided to further your study abroad in London. I miss you a lot!

The other month me and my family went to France! It was fantastic! I was over the moon! We went there for just [i think you were unwilling to go back after having been there for so short a time] two weeks. I really had much fun there!

It was my first visit to France, [u d hav known better how n where to use semicolons] the largest country in Europe after Russia and Ukraine. Our tourist guide, Leonardo, [looks better when enclosed by commas] said that the name France is derived from the Franks, a Germanic group that ruled France during the 5th century. I bet that you have heard the name of Napoleon Bonaparte before, have you? Well, Leonardo said that Napoleon was a Corsican who acquired many victories for France and became emperor in 1804.

It is not only the history of France that has attracted my passion, its cultures are [missing aux. verb] also very fascinating [ah, sound better!]. Leonardo said: "France has experienced a large amount of immigration during the past 150 years, resulting in various alternations [varies? look up the dictionary] and rich conglomerate of cultures. French cultures have enriched Europe with its long lists of writers, painters and sculptors." We have also been told that France produces some of the best wine worldwide which is an important aspect of French culture. [better off rewriting the last sentence. for example, We have also been told that most experts reckon the French wine is one of the best wines around the world which is an important ... your ending.]

On the first week we went to Paris, the capital of France. I took [don't use the past perfect here!] some pictures of the Eiffel Tower. We had been told [that's correct!] by Pasco, who was another tourist guide, that the Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustava Eiffel for the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition.

We also were [again?] to the Luxembourg Garden which faces the "Palais de Luxembourg". Pasco said that during warm weather Parisians would [direct/reported speech subtlety]fill the Luxembourg Garden as if it were a picturesque garden with many kinds of flowers and had serene atmosphere.

We went to the Louvre museum too! I was like in the seventh heaven when I was in the museum. It was marvellous! I had never expected that my dream to go to this museum would be real! I had been wandering in the museum for almost four hours. I just could not take my eyes off from the wondrous arts that surrounded me. Do you know that the Louvre museum was actually [back to where it belongs] first built as a fortress? However, as time passes by, it is no longer remaining solely [fits good] as a fortress, but has been changed into a grand museum which important works of art are display. [read it again and again untill u get the meaning. maybe you meant, which displays/exhibits some important works of art?] One of the significant works of art that is exhibited in the Louvre museum is the picture of Mona Lisa which was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Have you ever heard about the cathedral of Notre Dame? I went there too! I had been told that the cathedral of Notre Dame is an excellent example of gothic architecture which was constructed before 1400âs. This letter is enclosed with some pictures of the cathedral of Notre Dame.

I really hope that you enjoy reading my two weeks' experience in France. That is all for now and I am looking forward to hearing from you very soon. Please convey my greetings to all of your family members.

Love from

YOUR NAME.