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

Re: Punctuation: needs to be checked over

Clive — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:57:56 GMT

Hi,
I would really appreciate anyone who could check over these sentences to ensure all the punctuation is correct. This is an assignment for a correspondence course I'm taking, and I think I have them mostly right but I'd like to be sure. (This lesson focuses mainly on the period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, apostrophe, hyphen, quotation marks, italics/underlining, parantheses, brackets, slashes, capital letters, numbers)

a) Her favourite writers, Joyce Carol Oates and James Dickey, are both contemporary.

j) The lawn, a little ragged, needs to be cut; the hedge, shrubs, and ivy need to be

trimmed; the flowers need to be watered; and not least of all, the gardener needs to be

paid. (should the semicolon after watered be a comma, since the next word is and?) I'd use commas instead of all the semicolons.

k) The late Will Rogers's favourite saying was "I've never met a man I didn't like." (should there be a comma after was? No)

m) Does anyone remember who said absolute power corrupts absolutely? (according to my lesson, quotation marks arent supposed to be used on commonly known quotes, so I didnt use them.) I'd use them here, because the focus is on the fact that this is a quotation.

o) "You can't do that!" they shouted from the balcony. "You can't! You can't!" I'd consider putting a comma after the first quote.

p) The president's wife's activities are always reported in the press--so are his

children's. (not sure if this dash is right...)I guess it is, if you like dashes. I'd put a period instead.

r) To be a millionaire by the time you are thirty you will have to take large risks, be

lucky, and have creative ideas.

s) "Enjoy the view!" we called out as they left for the mountain-top. We had wisely

decided to wait for them in a meadow half-way up. Again, I'd consider a comma after the quote.

Best wishes, Clive

Punctuation: needs to be checked over

emchapps — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:45:03 GMT

Hi, I would really appreciate anyone who could check over these sentences to ensure all the punctuation is correct. This is an assignment for a correspondence course I'm taking, and I think I have them mostly right but I'd like to be sure. (This lesson focuses mainly on the period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, apostrophe, hyphen, quotation marks, italics/underlining, parantheses, brackets, slashes, capital letters, numbers)

a) Her favourite writers, Joyce Caol Oates and James Dickey, are both contemporary.

b) Your faults are an uncontrollable temper, inexperience, and indifference to your

work. (should there be a colon after the word are?)

c) Since we had driven the car 87,000 kilometres, we decided to turn it in.

d) If siege is spelled with an ie, why is seize spelled with an ei?

e) "What we need," said Mr. Blevin, the union spokesman, "is a good day's pay for a

good day's work."

f) Many people ~~perhaps most people~~do not know from what material their clothing is

made.

g) The government was faced with a difficult task: it had to persuade a sceptical,

frustrated people that the energy shortage was real.

h) Her camera, her new dress, and her books ~~all of which she left in her car~~were

stolen.

i) I have just received an unexpected letter from the director of the Bureau of Internal

Revenue. (should director be capitalized?)

j) The lawn, a little ragged, needs to be cut; the hedge, shrubs, and ivy need to be

trimmed; the flowers need to be watered; and not least of all, the gardener needs to be

paid. (should the semicolon after watered be a comma, since the next word is and?)

k) The late Will Rogers' favourite saying was "I've never met a man I didn't like." (should there be a comma after was?)

l) Judy Garland is best remembered for her role in the 1930's film, The Wizard of Oz.

m) Does anyone remember who said absolute power corrupts absolutely? (according to my lesson, quotation marks arent supposed to be used on commonly known quotes, so I didnt use them.)

n) I make it a point to read the New York Times every day and The New Yorker every

week; only rarely, however, do I get around to Time or Newsweek.

o) "You can't do that!" they shouted from the balcony. "You can't! You can't!"

p) The president's wife's activities are always reported in the press--so are his

children's. (not sure if this dash is right...)

q) Should one judge candidates from the speeches they make, from the printed matter

they distribute, or from the ideas they generate?

r) To be a millionaire, by the time you are thirty you will have to take large risks, be

lucky, and have creative ideas.

s) "Enjoy the view!" we called out as they left for the mountain-top. We had wisely

decided to wait for them in a meadow half-way up.

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: passive voice

Cool Breeze — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:51:51 GMT

Huevos
Goodman
football is a popular sport played almost in all Asain and European countries. There is no direct agent here but it's still a passive structure.
That sentence is not in the passive voice.

Football is a popular sport [which/that is] played in almost all Asian and European countries.

The sentence consists of a main clause and a relative clause, which has been reduced by omitting the relative pronoun and the passive auxiliary (is). I call such structures clause equivalents, but terminology is unimportant here. The relative clause - or its equivalent - is in the passive voice.

A sentence ends with a full stop / period, an exclamation mark or a question mark. A clause need not have any punctuation after it, which is the case after the main clause in this sentence.

Re: punctuation 4

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:14:42 GMT

That's fine, but for more emphasis, you could use an exclamation mark (!).

Dallas Willcox (Simply Words Editing Services)

Re: punctuation 2

Mr Wordy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:44:17 GMT

These are all OK. (You don't need a space before the exclamation mark after "book", and you don't want "book!.", but I guess these are just typos/formatting ambiguities.)

All these (not just the first two) could have an exclamation mark at the end of the second sentence. In the third example, especially, I would be tempted to use one (after "fairy").

Re: punctuation 1

Mr Wordy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:24:29 GMT

Oh dear(!) I can't find my book(!) / Oh dear, I can't find my book(!) -- These are the most likely; the exclamation "Oh dear" is a single unit. "(!)" means that you can either use an exclamation mark or a full stop, depending on how exclamatory you want it to sound.

Oh! Dear, I can't find my book(!) -- Possible, but less likely, and has a different meaning. Here "Oh!" is an exclamation by itself, and "Dear" is an affectionate form of address.

(b) Oh! Dear! I can't find my book(!) -- Theoretically possible, but not very likely. "Dear" is again an affectionate form of address, but here you're exclaiming it.

(a) is not really possible.

In your second sentence, both your suggestions are OK and mean about the same.

Re: Correct Punctuation within Parentheses

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:53:52 GMT

Guest
Hello all,

I have a question that is not addressed in any section that I've perused so far, here or elsewhere. I know that punctuation normally goes outside of the parentheses (like this). (However, if the entire sentence goes inside, then keep the punctuation inside as well.) The exception to this is when a question mark or an exclamation mark (dang it!) is necessary. My question comes from this last rule. What if that is the end of the sentence, as follows?

In the end, everyone felt better about each other (even if certain members wanted to kill certain others!)

Everything I've seen so far indicates that there should be an extra period outside of the closed parenthesis (since the exclamation mark pertains only to the parenthetical material), but I'm loathe to do it. Is there a rule about this? Please help!

Yours,
Mark

qtDear Mark,

I had the same question and found this online. Hope it helps!

Lynn

1. Punctuation with parentheses. As in the model sentence above, periods and other end punctuation go outside the close of a parenthesis. No punctuation mark can precede a parenthesis, but a comma can follow one:

Like three of my four uncles (the other was too young), my father served with honor.

Occasionally a parenthesis stands on its own as a sentence; if so, capitalize the first word and place end punctuation inside the parenthesis.

Three of my four uncles served with honor. (The other was too young to enlist.)

A question mark or exclamation point, if it is part of the parenthetical material, can go inside a parenthesis, but another punctuation mark is needed to close the sentence:

Miranda's frequent exclamations express pity ("O, woe the day!" "O the heavens!" "Alack, for mercy!") and wonder ("O, wonder!" "O brave new world!").

Re: The question mark/comma/quotation mark debacle

RegCor — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:40:58 GMT

Hi Ray,

Thanks for your help, however, I was wondering if there should be a comma when you have the title of a play (or book, or movie, etc.) with punctuation (like a question mark of exclamation mark) as part of the actual title. If I wanted to say - "Oklahoma!" the classic musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, will be performed on stage next week - would there be a comma between the exclamation point and quotation mark as normally there would be one.

I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this well! It's rather complicated to verbalize. Thanks!

Re: Punctuation 4, please approve my answers

Grammar Geek — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:13:11 GMT

You did a good job on this.

I would make only a couple changes, and a few are open to interpretation.

1) If he said it kindly, and didn't shout, then use a comma, not an exclamation mark, which would indicate that he's shouting.

2) Don't make "That's the same as mine" into a question.

3) I would make the "No?" into a question. It's almost like a tag without the main part.

Anil17

âCome here, my little man,â said the policeman, kindly. âWhy are you crying?â

âThatâs the same as mine. Where do you live, Tommy?â

âDo you know the number on your door? No? Maybe your house has a name? Has it Tommy?â