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

Is this a comma splice?

wholegrain — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:38:39 GMT

Herman Melville - The Confidence Man

http://www.online-literature.com/melville/confidence-man/7/

"Lucre those bills might be, but as yet having been kept unspotted from the world, not of the filthy sort."

Shouldn't there be a comma between "but" and "as"?

And why?

Re: Please check the grammar

Avangi — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:28:54 GMT

Hi Maple,

Are you sure you mean "sentences"? That looks to me like one wallyloobirdpippin of a single sentence!

Are Chinese materia medica medicinal herbs or the collected wisdom of the ages re stomach pain?

By "sieving" are you speaking figuratively about going through all existing information and saving the best, or are you straining tea?

Are we also sieving the recipes and the validation? I have to assume we are, since the first comma is after "dynasties."

The rest of it flows pretty well and seems to be in grammatical order. My only problem lies in swallowing that first clause, or the section up to the first comma. I'm assuming you mean to run all these things through a sieve. I don't see anything wrong with the grammar, but I expect only someone who has memorized the sentence, or someone with a 150 IQ would be able to digest it in one reading.

Edit. My guess is that we're sieving two things: materia medica, and recipes. There are two sources for these two things: classic and modern literature. I expect the validation is a separate deal. I think you have to find a way to clarify the relationship between the sieving and the validation - at least enough so one can grasp it in one reading. - A.

pps. Perhaps another source of confusion is that the sentence is paragraph length and we have to wait til we get to the middle of it before we get a sense of the topic. All of the things you invite us to deduce after the first comma pertain to stomach pain, but you ask us to hold them all in suspension until the main character is finally introduced. You might try to put something akin to a topic sentence close to the beginning. That would give us a hook to hang some of these rather specialized phrases on.

Best wishes, - A.

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online

Paultx — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:26:37 GMT

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Re: Student's resume for scholarship (help me to admend)

Grammar Geek — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:49:23 GMT

Often things like this are listed in reverse chronological order -- that is, the most recent is first, and the oldest is last. When you get to 2007, you have so many things that a bulleted list might be better. Good luck with your scholarship application.

OBJECTIVE : DON KNOW WHAT TO WRITEâ¦(please advise) Only you know what your objectives are. What do you want to study? Why do you want to study it? My 8 year old has an abiding passion for sharks and wants to go to college to study marine biology so she can go on to study sharks in their natural setting. What do YOU want to do?

EDUCATION:

UPSR 2002 (SJK(C)FOON YEW 1, J.B) I have no idea what this means.

Secondary education ( SMK TAMAN DAYA 2, JB )

Form 1, 2003 : second place of the whole form 1 students.(2/415) Perhaps for all of these you could simply say "Class ranking: 2 of 415"

Form 2, 2004 : first place of the whole form 2 students (1/326)

Form 3, 2005 : PMR-6Aâs (highest mark in geography, kemahiran hidup 4 ) Do you not have a ranking here? Leaving it out makes it look like you went way down.

Form 4, 2006 : second place of the whole form 4 students. (2/234), (highest mark in physic , chemistry and biology subject ) Same as above, but say "Highest place in physics, chemistry, and biology." Don't use "subject."

HONORS AND ACTIVITIES: Use consistent capitalization. Start each one with a capital letter.

2003: Council member of the schoolâs badminton association, scoutâs group leader I don't know how it's written in your country, but here it would be "Scout troop leader."

2004: scoutâs group leader, participated in the schoolâs English Poem Recitation, second runner up for the (JPJ - what is this?) road safety competition organized by Shell Malaysia. Is this relevent to your academic achievements? Is the fact that Shell sponsored it important to this scholarship application.

First place in the science and mathematic inter-school competition.

2005: scoutâ group leader , vice chairman of the science and mathematic society , first place in the inter-school literature quiz competition.

don't leave a space before a comma - leave one after it.

2006 : vice chairman of the scoutâs troop , don't have a comma dangling out here unless there's another thing to list

2007 : chairman of the scoutâs troop, vice chairman of the science and mathematic society, council member of the interschool sports team, participate in first aid and basic fire fighting course organized by Malaysia Civil Defense force ,participate in the J.B Law Olympiad 2007, second place in the district drama competition ,second place in the district Biology competition , don't have a comma dangling out here unless there's another thing to list

Fluent in spoken and written:
English, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Cantonese

Re: Capitilaztion

Philip — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 03:36:17 GMT

Tumbling wrote:

Will someone please check me.

Red the small letters that should be capitalized in the following sentences.

1. The Fairfax hotel operates on the american plan.
2. Sarah Whiting, an astronomer at wellesley, helped plan the Whitin observatory.
3. This spring my aunt Mary saw several elk near Douglas lake.
4. Our high school plans to perform Hansberrys A raisin in the sun.
5. Because I was sick for two weeks, I fell behind in literature, algebra, and world history I.

I, as in AmEng, would add to Feebs:

3) Aunt -- unless you separate 'aunt' from 'Mary' with commas

4) 'In' (perhaps an insignificant preposition) should be capitalized

5) Standard is to capitalize all classes if they are listed as the title of the class. "I really like to study literature, history and algebra" ~ "my favorite classes are Literature, History and Algebra". As far as I know, this is standard here in the colonies.

Re: 'Stratagem' 'A stratagem'

Mister Micawber — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:37:41 GMT

To make it even clearer: a comma-splice sentence is a mistake in ordinary writing, though it is sometimes used to good effect in literature and rhetoric.

Politely asking for feedback on my letter of motivation

Richard1985 — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:52:40 GMT

Hello,

I am Richard, a Dutch undergraduate student applying for a Masters programme in London, England.
As a part of the application form, I have to give 'further information' , which I interpreted as roughly analogous to a letter of motivation:

"
9. Further Information
Please state your interest in the subject and give information on any related activities, relevant courses and projects. Continue on a separate sheet if necessary.
"

I have written a first draft, and I was wondering if some of you would be willing to comment on it. I have read several other posts on the forum, and found them most informative.
I welcome comments on any aspects, but especially suspect myself of being a little too enamoured with comma's. Also, the end lacks in zest, I realise I will have to work some more on at least that part , and there is a small bit about some research I am doing at the moment, which I don't know where to place. Comments on any other subjects are also very much appreciated. Thanks!

Dear Sir, Madam,

My enthusiasm for your course in International Studies is engendered both by its specific content and by its method of instruction. The programme is perfectly suited to my aim in pursuing a Masters degree in International Studies, namely acquiring a thorough empirical knowledge of the various social and political structures in East Asia, both at the national and international level. I have already, besides my philosophy studies at the Radboud University Nijmegen, followed a half-year course on contemporary Asia, at the University of Amsterdam. Through its courses, this program gave me some knowledge about various parts of East Asian social and political structures, and it certainly whetted my appetite for a more thorough investigation into East Asian societies. During my philosophy studies, I have focused on political, social and cultural philosophy. Among the topics treated in those courses, two chime especially well with the modules available.

First, there are the various theories concerning political and social practice in democracies, some descriptive but most normative, like the theories of Rawls and Habermas. Their normative character theoretically makes them context-independent, but in practice they seem to be elevating an abstracted version of the political and social systems in contemporary Europe and the USA to the status of ideal political system. Through modules like âPolitics and History of Japan and East Asiaâ, âThe Politics of Culture in Contemporary Chinaâ and âIntroduction to Contemporary Chinese Cultures and Societiesâ, I hope to gain an understanding of the structure of civil society in these countries, and to use this knowledge to refine notions about civil society and its role in a democracy, instead of dismissing non-complying structures outright as flawed, as is often done. A possible outcome might be a âvarieties of democracyâ hypothesis, mirroring the âvarieties of capitalismâ paradigm which has surfaced in economics these last few decades.

A second set of modules, âAsia and Globalisationâ, âInternational Relations I: Theoretical Perspectivesâ and âNation, Transnationalism and Globalism in East Asiaâ, could function in very much the same way for political philosophy concerning international relations and globalisation. This field has been burgeoning over the last decades, without, however, yielding a limited number of guiding theories. Here I have no specific research object in mind, but I feel that this is a subject which will see the most interesting new theorizing in years to come. Knowledge about the complex interstate relations, both within the area and between these countries and the world at large, may function as an empirical touchstone and hopefully even illuminate the way in which an understanding of these processes should be sought.

It is not just the content of your modules which appeals to me; your method of instruction, focused on interactive group work following student and staff presentations, mirrors the more fruitful modules I have taken. The Radboud Universityâs Honours Programme, an extra-curricular programme for selected students, is explicitly centred around thorough student discussions of the literature prepared, guided by the staff. In my experience, this results in a far more nuanced understanding of the subject, and especially its pitfalls, than an ordinary staff lecture. This method of instruction, coupled with assessment by essays, also promotes the development of skill in arguing clearly and succinctly both on paper and verbally, an attribute which can never be honed well enough.

In short, your programme in International Studies chimes perfectly with my research interests, and its method of instruction is a most fruitful one. I look forward to continuing my academic education and research at your institution.

Yours Sincerely,

Richard

Here's the part I want to splice in somewhere:
I am currently writing my Bachelor thesis on the shifts in the intellectual debate in late Tokugawa and early Meiji Japan, and its relation with the vast changes in institutions and governance around the same time.

I could expand a bit on this, make it into its own short paragraph, but it doesn't seem to fit into the current format. I would, however, like to include something about research I've done. So I don't really know what to do with it. Any ideas?

Re: Sentences_comments

Mister Micawber — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 11:27:05 GMT

1- Studies on the quality of information in journal advertising have examined different outcome measures in a number of countries at different times and have applied different methodologies. -- I deleted your commas and added have; I hope I have expressed the correct hierarchy, as your original did not.

2-Available studies have shown the low quality of information provided to physicians by pharmaceutical representatives. However, a review of the literature has revealed the lack of such data for Australia. -- Again, I have tried to clarify where I think you meant information in two different senses; again, I hope my interpretation is correct.

Re: Starting a sentence with the word Or

Belushi — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 13:37:34 GMT

Hey, thanks for the speedy reply.

The full paragraph that she has written is this ...

According to Barry, Feminist Criticism could be described as the examination of representations of women in literature by men and women. Barry also describes feminism as being just the opposite of essentialism. Or as Culler points out, âFeminist theory stresses the impact of socially constructed gender roles on making the subject what he or she isâ (Culler:111)

I leant toward the comma after the "Or" but it just didnt sound right. The authoress is a natural German speaker, writing a small piece for her Master's Degree.

Re: did

Welkins2139 — Sun, 04 Jun 2006 11:48:43 GMT

Maybe,

Your sentence is formal or literature type.

I think auxiliary + subject has to be used after expressions contain " only "

If you delete " did ",

The sentence will be like,

Only after she died, I realized that she was actually a nice person. ( is this sentence ok ?)

A comma is necessary because an " after" adverb dependent clause is at the beginning.

I think the adverb "only " modifis " after.....died"

and the " only...... died " modifies the whole indenpdent sentence " I..............person"