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

Re: Harvard plagiarism and referencing system

Tanit — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:52:22 GMT

Hi,

You'll find a lot of guidelines from British universities on the Internet (CLICK HERE)
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The only basic rule to avoid plagiarism is as follows: in your pieces of coursework, quote every single sentence or concept which is not your own -- unless it's something very obvious (for instance, you wouldn't need to cite a source if you wrote that China is in Asia ).
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As for the Harvard system, you need to master the concept of direct and indirect quotes first.

1 - Direct quote means that you copy some words/a phrase/one or more sentences from a text. You need to enclose such excerpts in inverted commas. The name of the author, followed by a comma, then the year and possibly the number of the page must be put in brackets, unless the name of the author is contained in the sentence.

Example:
1a. Sustainable development has been defined as "a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987, pag. xyz).

1b. WCED (1987, pag. xyz) defined sustainable development as one "that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

2 - Indirect quote means that you summarise/paraphrase/credit/discuss/refer to a concept/a theory/a sentence that you find somewhere, by using your own words.

Example
Building upon the first important definition of sustainable development, contained in the Brundland report (WCED, 1987, pag. xyz), Dahl (2001) developed a system of indicators to "measure" sustainability.

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At the very end of your assignment, you need to put all of your sources in a chapter (usually titled "References"). Since there are many slightly different possible ways to write these even in the Harvard system (eg. if there's one, two or more authors; if it's the title of the book, of an article in a journal, a chapter in an edited book, a website etc.), you really had better check whether your uni has its own guidelines.

If you follow this link, for instance, you'll find my (former) uni's guidelines. Another website I've found useful is that of the Anglia Ruskin Uni.

Good luck with your essays & reports!

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: Use of however (Guest:Sam)

richard_s — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:27:22 GMT

Just another quick point, one person has suggested using 'however' surrounded by commas. Â Being an adverb, there are a number of positions that it can be placed in the clause. Â If 'however' does not come at the start of the clause, we can insert it elsewhere with commas.

E.g. However, he is crazy. Â vs Â He is, however, crazy. Â (both are correct)

Re: comparitive conjunction

Clive — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:11:06 GMT

Hi,

can anyone help me in choosing the correct answer below?

The underlined portion below may have some grammatical mistake.

After the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but as late as the nineteenth century about one child in three died before reaching the age of six.

(A) After the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate, life expectancy improved for children, but
This option means no change from what is above. This seems OK to me.
(B) Even though childrenâs life expectancy, which improved over the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate, The result is not a grammatical sentence.
(C) Although life expectancy for children improved after the Colonial period, during which the mortality rate was 50 percent, This answer is also OK.
(D) While there was an improvement in life expectancy for children after the 50 percent mortality rate of the Colonial period, still To use 'still, I'd prefer to punctuate a bit differently with commas, so I don't like this option.'Still' also seems a bit too conversational in tone to me.
(E) Despite childrenâs life expectancy improvement from the Colonial periodâs 50 percent mortality rate, So awkward as to sound ungrammatical.

The key for this question is 'as late as' which express the sameness in value w.r.t numbers or frequency or quality. What are w.r.t. numbers?

Best wishes, Clive

Punctuation: U.S. v.s. British style

Gori — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:33:37 GMT

Dear native speakers (this time, especially, U.S., Canada, and U.K.),

I have long been confronting the problem related to the usage of commas and periods in quotation marks. I know that periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks in U.S. style; but they are not in British style.

Example)
U.S. style) I said, "I cannot do this."
British style) I said, "I cannot do this".

Here are my questions:
1. Is it really true?
2. Do British/Canadian people use double quotation marks in such a case, not single quotation marks? Or does it depend on the writer (which to use, single or double quotation marks)?
3. Is it true that, in American style, commas and periods are placed outside quotation marks if the word enclosed in quotation marks is only one letter or a number?
e.g., This is "1", not "10".
e.g., This is called "X".

Someone, please, please help me clarify these points:

Re: Dear Friends,

richard_s — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:26:57 GMT

The aquatics centre will have a total capacity of 22,500, out of which 17,500 seats will be for the diving and pool competition(,) and the other 5,000 will be in the water polo section of the centre.

Notes:

Capitals - only capitalise the first letter of a sentence of names of things (proper nouns).

to seat - it is unusual to use total and to seat together. Â They don't collocate. We either say a total capacity of...Â orÂ a capacity to seat...

Punctuation - the semicolon use is incorrect there. Â You need a comma. Â Out of which actually begins a (dependent) relative clause which is the object of a preposition. Â Use semicolons when you are separating independent clauses.

the rest - the restÂ means all of the other seats. Â We don't use it with a number because it means all that is left. Â We use the otherÂ with a number to achieve the same meaning.

will be put up for - this seems wrong here though I am not exactly sure of your meaning. Â In this case, forÂ seems more logical.

Re: Tense mix-up overload

macavalesi9 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:47:39 GMT

My doubt concerns the way I've changed the tenses in each sentence.

"Nick sat down, thinking about all that had happened, wondering where it would take him, wondering if it made any sense to stay any longer. He took out his cellphone and began dialing a number, even as a million doubts assaulted him. A loud song blared out from the speakers but he didn't take note..."

Here, Nick "sat" is clearly a past tense. Yes.
But right after the comma I've used "thinking", then another comma, "wondering", and so on. So my question would be, what tense are those parts of the sentences in? He sat down in the past, but this thinking and wondering, at what time frame are they occurring in? I hope I'm asking the right questions here, I'm not very good with the terminology''

"Nick sat down, thinking about all that had happened, wondering where it would take him, wondering if it made any
as i have said the sentences are right.such words as 'he sat down THÄ°NKÄ°NG,SPEAKÄ°NG..etc are used also to not use the same words again.because its unnecesarry.
you may have said tgis sentences such as 'nick sat down.he was thinking(or he thought) about all that happened.he wondered where it would take him.he wondered if it made any..
but as i have said there is no need to longten the sentences...and here the practicality comes into being.

Re: Tense mix-up overload

Clive — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:18:47 GMT

Hi,
My doubt concerns the way I've changed the tenses in each sentence.

"Nick sat down, thinking about all that had happened, wondering where it would take him, wondering if it made any sense to stay any longer. He took out his cellphone and began dialing a number, even as a million doubts assaulted him. A loud song blared out from the speakers but he didn't take note..."

Here, Nick "sat" is clearly a past tense. Yes.
But right after the comma I've used "thinking", then another comma, "wondering", and so on. So my question would be, what tense are those parts of the sentences in? He sat down in the past, but this thinking and wondering, at what time frame are they occurring in? I hope I'm asking the right questions here, I'm not very good with the terminology.
The words 'thinking / wondering / wondering' are just participles acting as adjectives which describe Nick. They don't involve any tense at all. The tense is supplied by the verb 'sat'. Consider these simple examples which illustrate this point.

Nick sat, thinking.
Nick sits, thinking.
Nick will sit, thinking.

And the next sentence again starts in a past sense.Yes, it's Simple Past. And then, the "began dialing" what tense would that be, past progressive? Yes. Basically I'm really confused. A little explanation would help. Simple Past focuses on the event that happened. Progressive stresses duration. There's nothing at all unusual about using these two tenses together.

eg I saw Tom yesterday. He was walking down the street.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Tense mix-up overload

neverness — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:47:21 GMT

Thank you for the prompt reply Clive.

My doubt concerns the way I've changed the tenses in each sentence.

"Nick sat down, thinking about all that had happened, wondering where it would take him, wondering if it made any sense to stay any longer. He took out his cellphone and began dialing a number, even as a million doubts assaulted him. A loud song blared out from the speakers but he didn't take note..."

Here, Nick "sat" is clearly a past tense. But right after the comma I've used "thinking", then another comma, "wondering", and so on. So my question would be, what tense are those parts of the sentences in? He sat down in the past, but this thinking and wondering, at what time frame are they occurring in? I hope I'm asking the right questions here, I'm not very good with the terminology. And the next sentence again starts in a past sense. And then, the "began dialing" what tense would that be, past progressive? Basically I'm really confused. A little explanation would help. Thanks a lot again.