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

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: who[(m)ever] - whose[ever] - what[ever] - when[ever] - where[ever] - how[ever]

Mr Wordy — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:24:31 GMT

* Possible in informal conversation, but, to varying degrees, dubious (IMO).

I should mention, in case it's not already obvious, that while some choices are obviously correct, and some are obviously wrong, there is a grey area in between where you look at some of the options and think "Hmmm... is that right or not?".

[2] What we feel has a lot to do with how / ~~however~~ we conceptualize things.

[4] It is not important to him how / however* you do the job.

It's going to cost a lot ~~how~~ / however you look at it.

[9] The answer is always the same whoever [everyday use] / whomever [formal] you ask.

[11] They were followed closely wherever / ~~where~~ [borderline, perhaps just about possible] they went.

[13] It is not important where / wherever* they went.

[15] A carload of soldiers goes with him wherever / where [less likely] he goes.

[17] It was nothing to do with me what / whatever she did. [A comma is needed before "whatever" IMO]

[19] What we feel has a lot to do with what / whatever [less likely, but probably OK] we conceptualize.

[21] It's okay with me whatever / what* you decide. [I would put a comma before "whatever"]

[23] He is happy and contented whenever / when he returns to this place.

[25] It is of no concern to her when / whenever [see note] he returns to this place. [This sentence can be read in two ways. Either the time of his return is of no concern, or something else (whatever "it" refers to) doesn't concern her at the time he returns. "whenever" fits the second meaning but not the first.]

[27] It is not important ~~whosever's~~ / ~~whosever~~ / whose / whoever's* car this is.

[30] We have to fine (him) whoever's / whosever [rarer] / ~~whose~~ car this is. [If "him" is included then I would put a comma after "him"]

Re: Conjunction beginning a sentence

Cool Breeze — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:56:55 GMT

1. Because is a conjunction which begins a subordinate causal clause. A subordinate clause should normally be accompanied by a main clause. A main clause can stand on its own; it is not necessary to accompany a main clause with a subordinate clause.

Examples:

Main clause - subordinate clause. I didn't go out because/as/since it was raining.

Subordinate clause - main clause: Because/As/Since it was raining, I didn't go out. (Note the comma!)

Main clause: I didn't go out.

A subordinate clause without a main clause is usually incorrect: Because/As/Since it was raining. (WRONG!) You may use clauses like this in conversation but avoid them in serious writing.

2. Many style guides suggest that it is usually not good style or advisable to begin a sentence with and. Marius has already given you good advice about that. Even is not a conjunction and nothing prevents you from beginning a clause or a sentence with it:

Even the poorest people in that town own a car.

Even my stupid friend understood what was being said.

Re: What's the difference between these words?

Mr Wordy — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:17:33 GMT

"Maybe" is more conversational and less likely to be used in formal writing, but other than that the two words are very often interchangeable -- as they are in all your dictionary examples. There might be some expressions in which only one of "maybe" or "perhaps" is idiomatic, but none immediately come to mind.

John is not a engineer, maybe a technician.

This is not very good English. You could say John is not a engineer; maybe/perhaps he's a technician. or John is not a engineer; he may be a technician. In ordinary conversation John is not a engineer ... maybe a technician. is a kind of shorthand, but I wouldn't punctuate it with a comma.

Perhaps/maybe, but I'm not sure about that.

Fine.

Perhaps, I may have a car.

I'd punctuate this as Perhaps I may have a car (unless you actually mean Perhaps. I may have a car.). Strictly you don't need both "perhaps" and "may", but in ordinary conversation it's the kind of thing one would say. Actually, to answer my own question, when the sentence (redundantly) also includes the word "may", it would sound odd to use "maybe". For example, Maybe I may have a car is strange (while Maybe I'll have a car is fine).

Fragmented sentences

New2grammar — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:33:04 GMT

Now, come to think of it, not considering the reason behind, it was quite unfair to her, given that she came all the way, travelled 700 miles, to a totally different state and city to work for him.

I know the sentence is fragmented. But I wonder if it's understandable to native speakers. And if it's also common in daily conversations. I've heard so many fragmented sentences but I don't think I have any idea how to form them correctly. Are there any rules? My believe is when you want to emphasize some points which you've just articulated but Ooops...you think they are not clear, you would pause which is indicated by a comma in writing and follow with elaboration and once you're done, you end it with another pause and go back to your original thought. Though it's ugly in writing, I feel it's quite important in conversation to make your point. Of course, if you can speak as good as you write, there's no need for this ugliness. But at the moment, this is a quick fix for me while I continue to polish my English. Please be honest. Thanks in advance.

Re: Proofreading essay

Mister Micawber — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:49:06 GMT

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I have crossed out inappropriate material and underlined some problem areas. You have trouble with commas and with chatting:

In taking upon my Senior Honors Project I have thrown myself over a ledge with the intention to climb back up. Through this year my drive, enthusiasm, and patience have been tested. However, I believe I am within an armâs reach of the top and, with one final grasp, I shall report my experience.I could not have completed my project without some very important ~~outside~~ resources. One of these resources that greatly aided me was the PHP manual on php.net. This website holds information on all of the built in PHP functions. On each page users can post solutions to common problems arisen by the function dedicated to it or describe in more detail how to use them. Using this has cut down on development time by giving me answers to almost all of my syntax and function related questions. If I had trouble remembering the name of a function I could simply look it up on the site. Without this I would either have to use a guess-and-check type of finding the solution or type it into a search-engine and rely on third-party sites. This resource also helped me discover new functions that made my coding easier; I would not have to âreinvent the wheelâ when a built in function existed. The conversations with my project mentor, Ed Sprenger, have also yielded great knowledge. The insight he has given me on all my questions was very informative and he has taught me what I would have otherwise never learned through basic research. Our topics of discussion ranged from future jobs, programming languages, and life in the computer science field to internet security and database advice. It has been very helpful to have someone to talk to who is in the computer science field and understands what I am doing. I cannot imagine getting through this project with someone who didnât know a bit from a byte. Ed Sprenger was a valuable resource in my project and has taught me very well.

One of my objectives from the start of the project was to learn how to program in the windows environment. ~~I am now confident that I am very knowledgeable in this field.~~ Through use of the Windows API (Application Programming Interface) in my project I have learned all about programming windows applications. Some of the main topics I delved into were message controls and message handling. Controls are the things that make up a dialog box or application window: edit boxes, drop down boxes, and radio buttons. These, along with message handling, are all it takes to create a functional and effective Windows program. Message handling is a broad subject and was therefore a difficult ~~subject~~ to grasp and implement. Messages are data that is sent to the main application, child dialog boxes, and controls. These messages range from telling the object it has been clicked upon to telling the object to destroy itself. There are many messages that could be potentially sent and choosing ~~which~~ the ones to recognize and the handling of them is up to the programmer. Luckily the Windows SDK Documentation outlines all the messages and their data.The Windows SDK (Software Development Kit) Documentation and the online documentation at msdn.com ~~both~~ helped me in the application programming aspect of my project. Since the documentation is straight from Microsoft, I can rely on it to tell me everything about the piece of information that I am looking up. It describes itself plainly and clearly and cross references related data that has more than often helped me grasp the subject beyond a basic understanding. Every website needs a directory chain; a way of organizing the folders that hold the files. I got my idea from a web programming job I held with Chad Furman two summers back. ~~I learned a lot from him, holding that job.~~ ~~This directory tree was one thing that I remember~~. I have one main folder that houses all of the main pages of the site. This includes the index page, the login page, and the report card page among others. From there I have a picture folder which houses all the pictures and a folder called âincludesâ. This âincludesâ folder contains all of the PHP helper files that process the HTML forms along with some helper functions. Within lies another folder labeled âclassesâ which contains the PHP classes of the project. Each class has its own file which is included by the different files in the âincludeâ folder. So an example design would be the report card page including the report card include file (in the âincludeâ folder). This included file would then include the report card class file (in the âclassesâ folder). The design is not very complex but it does a good job of organizing my files.One aspect of the site that I was very proud of is the system for logging in. What I have set up is an include file that is required by all pages that require access to user validity or other user functions. This include file holds the user class which contains functions that deal with all aspects to the user. Any page containing the file can check for user validity, log the user in, log them out, and access the userâs data. Parents, teachers, and administrators all use the same login page. However when parents login they only in need of a password and not a username. The database holds all the different types of usersâ data the same way and in the same table. ~~I was lucky for the logging in system to turn out as good as it did~~.Upon logging in every user has a set of session variables. These variables are used for keeping track of the user and their credentials. They will hold their value for as long as the internet browser is open. So a user is logged in, even while surfing other pages, providing they donât log themselves out or close out of their browser. This technique trumps using browser cookies for a couple of reasons. The pro of using cookies to save data over multiple sessions does hold value ~~in my case~~. No one user will be travelling the website often enough for this feature to be worth the trouble of implementing it. Session variables are fine for what I am setting out to do. There are three basic sections that the end user has access to on the website. They are all accessed through the control panel, and depending on which type of user is requesting that page depends on the control panel they see. The control panel checks the session âaccessâ variable, and depending on the value, displays the appropriate options to be linked on the control panel. The most common type of user is the parent. Their control panel consists of one item; a link to see their childâs report card. Clicking this takes them to a table showing their report card. Each entry contains the class, the teacher, and the grade. For a class description they can simply click on the class name and a pop-up window will open containing the text. The only other option the parent has is to logout, which is on all the usersâ control panels. The next type of user is the teacher. They have considerable more options than the parent, as they should. The first thing to be noted is the teacher panel. This page is where the teachers may access and edit the enrollment and grades of their class. They may add and remove students from their class and add, edit, and delete the grades of their students. This is where the teacher will be spending most of their time. The next thing a teacher may do is view report cards. They can see any childâs report card that is in their class. However the only grades that will be listed are the ones from classes that the viewing teacher teaches. So an English teacher will not be able to see the grade a student gets in a Math class. The last thing on the teacher control panel is the class stats page. This page contains a list of all the grades in the class and the class mean, class median, and class range. The last type of user is the administrator. They have access to everything. Right from the control panel they can go into the admin panel which lets them edit almost everything on the site. On this admin panel page there are the categories: Student, Parent, Teacher, Admin, Class, Enrollment, and Grade. Under each of these are the options: Add, Delete, and Edit. So under each of the categories they can add to them (e.g. adding a student), delete them (e.g. deleting a grade), and edit them (e.g. changing a classâs description). With this they can start from scratch and create a whole grading system complete with classes, teachers, students, and grades. Along with this power, the administrator can see all studentsâ report cards complete with all classes and see all classesâ stats pages. The administrator is the person who must set everything up ~~once~~, and after this the teachers and parents may use the site to the max. On every one of the pages that displays personal data there is a security check on each page refresh. This is done to prevent users from seeing what they shouldnât be seeing. This feature works by taking the user id session variable and/or the student id pertaining to that user and checks them against their respective get variables. Without this security, a user could log in and then see other usersâ data. For example, a parent could log in and direct their browser to the report card page. Naturally, their childâs report card will show up. However if they change the user id âgetâ variable and refresh the page they will see another childâs grades. This is where my protection kicks in, preventing this and giving the user an error explaining that they donât have access to the page they are trying to view. With the database designed as it is, deleting data has become a little complicated. For example, when you delete a class, all the grades are still in the database despite the fact that they have no class associated with them. Also when a student is removed their grades stay behind ~~to rot~~. I have fixed this by allowing the administrator (the only one doing any deleting affected by this) the option to delete all associative data relating to the entry being deleted. ~~So now~~ (assuming the user chooses the option) when a student is deleted their grades and their parent user are also deleted. Also when a class is deleted all the grades go along with it. This prevents old and needless data from piling up in the database and causing confusion among the users.

Upon completion of my senior honors project I am confident with my skills and am ready to go out into the world in search of a computer science career. ~~Spending a lot of my free time in front of my computer and programming has put me through the ringer, and I liked it.~~ Before I started, I had no experience working on an organized project with a ~~pre-existing~~ goal. ~~Before, I have just worked on small projects that have not gone anywhere.~~ Now that I am done programming, I can see the product that I have made. I can see that it has been completed with success. I have taken my ideas and integrated them efficiently and successfully. I have learned a great deal this year.

comma usage

Anonymous — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:05:17 GMT

Are the commas and emdashes used correctly in the below sentences? Please correct them if needed.

It has to do with the fact that, due to immigration, travel, Internet, diaspora of all religions around the world, we are now in each other's faces, we are now each other's neighbors.

The Muslim Brotherhood, for example, which was founded in Egypt ~~one of its earliest leaders was Sayyid Qutb, one of the intellectual founders of Muslim renewal~~opposed, at the time, most of the movements of the modern world ~~communism, capitalism, nationalism~~in the interest of establishing what they wanted to call an original Islamic ummah, informed by Quranic justice and equality.

This pattern of tactical avoidance, though it may preserve a certain atmosphere, eventually leads to evading hard questions. It leads to obscuring the involvement, the inconvenient factor, that throughout history, conflicts within and between religious traditions have been suffused with political element, and such detextualized conversations ~~and I repeat, not all of the meetings are like this~~can therefore lead to a false sense of optimism about the interfaith relationships and the inevitable disillusionment that sets in when they don't seem to work out as we had hoped.

Re: I Want To Be Fluent English Speaker How Please?

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:58:38 GMT

Hello to all,

I believe that to learn English depends of the interest of individual and depending of the English knowledge you wanted to learn. like for instance, if you want to speak English all you have to do is to listen very carefully to some tools such as CD, DVD, tapes etc. either audio or video, any kinds of topics as long as educational and knowledgeable and while you are listening just follow and speak what they are talking this is a training of the tongue or tongue twisting trying to develop proper accent, pronunciation, intonation etc, if any words you donât understand have your dictionary besides you and open it. next step just prepare any topics as guidelines [ prepare the main topics, sub topics and conclusion] prolong, elongate and expound the topics you wanted to discuss make it in English version at first you might have the difficulty to speak but try and try until your English would connect and connect at this point your trying to bridge the gap. What is needed in English is that at least you have many words to know {synonym and antonyms} is what i mean.

The basic training of English is that you have to speak English by any topics. I understand that for a person who lived {not speaking country have the difficulty to speak English} on my behalf, English education must start first on basic like for instance if you need English conversation find a person who could talk with you English, or else speak and talk English with yourself even if someone listening at you and say something you are a fool forget it. What is needed is you learn something and speak English. if you have the difficulty to write English just read books literatures etc at this point you can get many ideas and your vocabulary broadens, watch the period, punctuation, commas, etc, if you are not a good English listener try to listen English teachings, news whatever that could improve your English, the four pillars of English are: reading. Speaking, writing and listening, if you have this all then you can speak English although not fluent as what others did but at least you can communicate via reading, writing, listening and speak. Fluent English would follow donât give up keep trying until success.

I am a Filipino not an English speaker, writer, etc but in terms of communication i could communicate. For to me to learn English depends on individual. If we have the basic then we have to improve, have the desire, act on it, and apply no need a tutor individual interest is vital here. Donât be shy to speak English if the English is crooked and someone laughs at you accept it consider yourself that you are not an English person, perhaps the person who laughs at you donât know how to speak English and even to communicate with. Thereâs a saying goes: a noisy person have little knowledge than a silent one. in this world what is important is communication regardless of races, nationality and religion. a crooked English is better than nothing, a crooked or a carabao English has the opportunity to become fluent rather than nothing. but if you have nothing at all nobody blames except yourself, your making your own fate and destiny donât blame your parents and the government its your own decision for what you are now, your right decision now will be your future someday but if you donât plan or decision today do you think you have something to expect in the future. To speak English needs perseverance, long patience and determination to reach the goal this is fundamental requirements. people who cannot speak English has less opportunity to go abroad particularly in the open country, and thatâs the reason why I wanted to learn English even basic for this is my only tool to go to other countries if opportunities permit.

From Philippines,

Rene

comma to link separate, yet related clauses?

Believer — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:00:22 GMT

Hi,

I think you can use a comma to sort of link two separately written, yet very related-in-content clauses like this:

Thank you, it was good to receive a gift of appreciation by you last week.

I think 'Thank you' and what follows can be thought of as two separate clauses yet can be linked by a comma.

That was his decision, deciding to support his care his aged father by himself and not put the father somewhere difficult to care for was the right thing to do. -- Since the underlined clause contains an element, which is 'decision'. that is further elucidated by the longer clause that followed, I think it could be argued a comma is correclty used. Right?

But you wouldn't agree this use of a comma is correct, would you?

That was thrown abruptly, he could not have anticipated its coming while quite immersed in his conversation with his old friend. -- 'it' refers to a ball, in this case.

Are there a guideline as to this use of comma (if it is in fact correctly used)?

Re: Help proofreading "A Doll's House"

Mister Micawber — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:53:58 GMT

I have underlined some problem areas:

The Woman Within the Doll

The Baltimore Sun wrote that back in 1879, âA Doll's Houseâ by Henrik Ibsen âshocked and offended people wherever [it] was played,â and that the dramatist assured it was not about a woman, but about âanyone who had to live according to the rules created by othersâ (Hyder). Society thought to be outrageous that a woman would get involved in manly things, for her role in society was exclusively to care for the family and please her husband. Women did not enjoy the rights women do now. They were not taken seriously, and decisions were made by the man who was and still is considered the head of the family. Nora's choice to become free, independent and leave her husband, along with some of the characters' actions made this play to be scandalous for its time.

Ibsen wrote in a letter that the story in âA Doll's Houseâ was about a woman who feels:

" Oppressed and bewildered by belief in authority, she loses her faith in her own moral right and ability to bring up her children... [She is bittered because,] like certain insects, (ought to) go away and die when she has done her duty towards the continuance of the species... [she shakes] off of cares, [but then she feels] a sudden return of apprehension and dread. She must bear it all aloneâ (Doll).

Nora had a beautiful life, she had a husband, beautiful children, and everything she wanted. Earlier in her marriage, his husband suffered of an illness of which he needed to recover somewhere in the south, but this was concealed from him by the doctor and Nora. Not having the means to afford a trip so costly and out of love and desperation, Nora decides to ask for a loan without letting Tolvard know. She forges her father's signature to obtain the loan because she does not want to trouble her father either, who is very ill himself too. However, she is responsible and works secretly from home in order to make the payments. Eventually, Tolvard finds out about her secret and feels that his life, happiness and reputation will be lost once Krogstad, who lent the money, publishes the then scandalous situation out of revenged for having fired him from the bank he now manages. He quickly turns against her. That is the moment when Nora starts to understand things she did not understand before; she realizes she does not love Tolvard anymore just as he does not really love her as she thought, and decides to leave for good to discover herself. [Too many pronouns-- I don't know who's doing what to whom]

The scenery consists of the Helmer's apartment and nowhere else. The description of the apartment depicts the decision that Nora will have to make. There is a door to the right which leads to the entryway and another to the left which leads to Helmer's study. Nora will have to decide which door to take: freedom or Helmer [Tolvard / Helmer: we don't know if they are one or two]. The place is not âexpensively furnishedâ, but it is comfortable, just like Nora's marriage, she lives a comfortable life, but there are certain things she lacks that are more important than riches. No woman could even consider back in the 1800s doing such a scandalous things as to leave not only the husband, but her children too.

The main character in the story is Nora, a seemingly selfish, materialistic woman who cares a lot about money and in living a good life. This is to be expected since her father liked to spend money himself and live a life he could only could afford with credit. He used to called her his âdoll-child, and he played with [her] the way [she] played with [her] dollsâ (Ibsen 1041). She was obviously very protected and spoiled by both, her father and her husband, who provided anything she needed or wanted. Her father raised her not think for herself and just play her role in society. âWhile [she] was at home with [her] father, he used to tell [her] all his opinions, and [she] held the same opinions. If [she] had others [she] said nothing about them, because he wouldn't have liked itâ (1041) [All the bracketed pronouns are distracting; it would be better to give the exact quotes]. This repeated again as a married woman; she would not express her opinion to Tolvard, for they never talked seriously, but seemed to have trusted Dr. Rank better. Norah was greatly misunderstood. She was a loving person, she loved her husband so much that she was willing to forge her father's signature to obtain a loan to take her husband south in order for him to recover from a deadly illness [You said all this before; cut it.]. She is willing to do anything for him. Eventually she realized she does not have to play the doll anymore. One can only imagine people's reaction throughout the play's events.

Tolvard Helmer seemed [Be consistent in verb tenses] to be an ideal husband. He is loving, admirable, honest, ethical, hard-working and successful, but there seems to be a dark side of him. He is a prideful man, he won't ask for money to anyone, to [Commas are not conjunctions.] do so would be humiliating. To him, honor and appearances are more important than family. He does not believe people can change and become good, as he did not believe Krogstad was a good person although he had been honest for a long time already. Also, he is so affectionate that makes one wonder of his sincerity; he calls Nora diminutive names such as featherbrained, spendthrift [These are not diminutives.] , a squirrel, a song-bird, lark, strange little being all the time (994). One cannot think of a woman who would like being called like that and who would not be affected emotionally. Tolvard's reaction after finding out Nora's secret is amusing. He had told Nora that sometimes he wished â[she] was in some terrible danger, just so [he] could take [his] life and soul and everything, for [her] sakeâ (1038), yet he quickly turns against her calling her a wretched woman, a criminal, unprincipled, untrustworthy of raising her children, incapable, etc. His hypocrisy is clearly revealed when as soon as he realizes that Nora's mistake won't affect his reputation he forgives her (1039-1949). There's a saying that goes something like a good friend is hard to find, specially during difficult times; Tolvard was nor a good friend neither that perfect husband he seemed to be. He loved to have control of his wife's life, and his conversations usually tend to imply that Nora would be lost without him; that she needed his guidance and teaching. Tolvard did not love Nora, â[he] thought it fun to be in love with [her]â (1041).

Dr. Rank is in love with Nora, and that seems to have been the main reason he visited the Helmer's house. This character is not essential in the play, but it causes outrage when he dares to reveal Nora his secret. This is almost vulgar for him to do, and very dishonorable, specially during those times in which people were very conservative. It is as if he had taken advantage of the trust the family had in it and ended up tarnishing his reputation.

Mrs. Linde is one of Nora's old friends from school. She gave up her true love for money, but in the end things did not turn out the way she had expected. Her husband died leaving her in a terrible financial situation making [On the other hand, commas are essential for separating dependent clauses.] it necessary for her to work in order to sustain her mother and brothers. After her mother passed away and her brothers did not need her help she left town. Not to have someone to take care of made her feel âcompletely alone in the worldâ, and it frightened her âto be so empty and lostâ (1032). She needed âsomeone to take care ofâ, she wanted to be a mother and wanted the companionship of a husband. In the end, she was supposed to have helped Nora hide her secret. She could have convinced Mr. Krogstad to get the letter back, but she did not intercede (1033). She might have been envious of Nora, after all, Nora had all she was longing for; a husband, beautiful children, and a good life.

Lastly, Krogstad is the one who lent Nora money to save her husband, and threatens her to tell her husband if she does not convince Tolvard to let him keep his job at the bank, but just as Nora did, he once made a mistake, which caused him to loose his reputation. He was a man who seems to have been harden by life's difficulties. When he was left by the woman he dearly loved âit was as if all the solid ground dissolved from under [his] feetâ (1031). This might have caused him to become the âhalf-drownedâ kind of man, as he refers to himself. After finding love in his life he turns from the revengeful person into a forgiving one.

In conclusion, Nora realized of her true value as a human being and as a woman. She decides to leave everything and everyone, husband, children, luxuries to a journey to liberate herself. To do such thing was unthinkable at that time and caused turmoil, but it was the best choice she could ever make. To leave one's children is a terrible things to do and was not necessary, but looking beyond that, without prejudices, it is not hard to understands she is trying to figure out who she really is and what she believes in. This is essential to one's happiness; therefore she is determined to make necessary changes in her life even if people think bad of her. It seems that daring to do so back in the 1800s was just as bad as selling drugs or prostituting oneself.