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<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Search results for 'tag:Numbers tag:Exclamation marks' matching tags 'Numbers' and 'Exclamation marks'</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aNumbers+tag%3aExclamation+marks</link><description>Search results for 'tag:Numbers tag:Exclamation marks' matching tags 'Numbers' and 'Exclamation marks'</description><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><generator>CSMOD (Build: 3256.36449)</generator><item><title>Re: Punctuation: needs to be checked over</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/PunctuationChecked/hbbhk/post.htm#589978</link><pubDate>Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:57:56 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:589978</guid><dc:creator>Clive</dc:creator><description>Hi,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;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&amp;#39;m taking, and&amp;nbsp;I think I have them&amp;nbsp;mostly right but I&amp;#39;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,&amp;nbsp;parantheses, brackets, slashes, capital letters, numbers)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;a) Her favourite writers, Joyce Ca&lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration:underline;"&gt;r&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;ol Oates and James Dickey, are both contemporary.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;j) The lawn, a little ragged, needs to be cut; the hedge, shrubs, and ivy need to be &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;trimmed; the flowers need to be watered; and not least of all, the gardener needs to be &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;paid.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;(should the semicolon after watered be a comma, since the next word is and?) &lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;I&amp;#39;d use commas instead of all the semicolons.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;k) The late Will Rogers&amp;#39;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;s &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;favourite saying was &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ve never met a man I didn&amp;#39;t like.&amp;quot; &lt;/strong&gt;(should there be a comma after was? &lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;No&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;m) Does anyone remember who said absolute power corrupts absolutely?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; (according to my lesson, quotation marks arent supposed to be used on commonly known quotes, so&amp;nbsp;I didnt use them.) &lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;I&amp;#39;d use them here, because the focus is on the fact that this is a quotation.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;o) &amp;quot;You can&amp;#39;t do that!&amp;quot; they shouted from the balcony. &amp;quot;You can&amp;#39;t! You can&amp;#39;t!&amp;quot; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;I&amp;#39;d consider putting a comma after the first quote.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;p) The president&amp;#39;s wife&amp;#39;s activities are always reported in the press--so are his &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;children&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;(not sure if this dash is right...)&lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;I guess it is, if you like dashes. I&amp;#39;d put a period instead.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;r) To be a millionair&lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;e b&lt;/span&gt;y the time you are thirty you will have to take large risks, be &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;lucky, and have creative ideas.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;s) &amp;quot;Enjoy the view!&amp;quot; we called out as they left for the mountain-top. We had wisely &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#0000bf;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;decided to wait for them in a meadow half-way up. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR:#bf005f;"&gt;Again, I&amp;#39;d consider a comma after the quote.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Best wishes, Clive&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Punctuation: needs to be checked over</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/PunctuationChecked/hbbgl/post.htm</link><pubDate>Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:45:03 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:589962</guid><dc:creator>emchapps</dc:creator><description>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&amp;#39;m taking, and&amp;nbsp;I think I have them&amp;nbsp;mostly right but I&amp;#39;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,&amp;nbsp;parantheses, brackets, slashes, capital letters, numbers)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;a) Her favourite writers, Joyce Caol Oates and James Dickey, are both contemporary.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;b) Your faults are an uncontrollable temper, inexperience, and indifference to your &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;work. &lt;/strong&gt;(should there be a colon after the word are?)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;c) Since we had driven the car 87,000 kilometres, we decided to turn it in.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;d) If &lt;em&gt;siege&lt;/em&gt; is spelled with an &lt;em&gt;ie&lt;/em&gt;, why is &lt;em&gt;seize&lt;/em&gt; spelled with an &lt;em&gt;ei&lt;/em&gt;?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;e) &amp;quot;What we need,&amp;quot; said Mr. Blevin, the union spokesman, &amp;quot;is a good day&amp;#39;s pay for a &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;good day&amp;#39;s work.&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;f) Many people &lt;strike&gt;perhaps most people&lt;/strike&gt;do not know from what material their clothing is &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;made.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;g) The government was faced with a difficult task: it had to persuade a sceptical, &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;frustrated people that the energy shortage was real.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;h) Her camera, her new dress, and her books &lt;strike&gt;all of which she left in her car&lt;/strike&gt;were &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;stolen.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;i) I have just received an unexpected letter from the director of the Bureau of Internal &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Revenue.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;(should director be capitalized?)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;j) The lawn, a little ragged, needs to be cut; the hedge, shrubs, and ivy need to be &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;trimmed; the flowers need to be watered; and not least of all, the gardener needs to be &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;paid.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;(should the semicolon after watered be a comma, since the next word is and?)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;k) The late Will Rogers&amp;#39; favourite saying was &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ve never met a man I didn&amp;#39;t like.&amp;quot; &lt;/strong&gt;(should there be a comma after was?)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;l) Judy Garland is best remembered for her role in the 1930&amp;#39;s film, &lt;em&gt;The Wizard of Oz&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;m) Does anyone remember who said absolute power corrupts absolutely?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; (according to my lesson, quotation marks arent supposed to be used on commonly known quotes, so&amp;nbsp;I didnt use them.)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;n) I make it a point to read the &lt;em&gt;New York Times &lt;/em&gt;every day and &lt;em&gt;The New Yorker &lt;/em&gt;every &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;week; only rarely, however, do I get around to &lt;em&gt;Time&lt;/em&gt; or &lt;em&gt;Newsweek&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;o) &amp;quot;You can&amp;#39;t do that!&amp;quot; they shouted from the balcony. &amp;quot;You can&amp;#39;t! You can&amp;#39;t!&amp;quot;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;p) The president&amp;#39;s wife&amp;#39;s activities are always reported in the press--so are his &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;children&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;(not sure if this dash is right...)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;q) Should one judge candidates from the speeches they make, from the printed matter &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;they distribute, or from the ideas they generate?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;r) To be a millionaire, by the time you are thirty you will have to take large risks, be &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;lucky, and have creative ideas.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;s) &amp;quot;Enjoy the view!&amp;quot; we called out as they left for the mountain-top. We had wisely &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;decided to wait for them in a meadow half-way up.&lt;/strong&gt;</description></item><item><title>Ballad, Porphyria's Lover, To His Coy Mistress and My Last Duchess</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/BalladPorphyriasLoverMistressLast-Duchess/grqvl/post.htm</link><pubDate>Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:51:22 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:505829</guid><dc:creator>SamW</dc:creator><description>Basically, I have been set a piece of coursework: to compare the aforementioned poems. I am going for an A* piece at GCSE level, there is no particular question, just to compare the four poems. I have almost completed My Last Duchess, mentioning all the themes I can think of and reading the topics on here for extra guidance. However, I could do with some guidance on how to compare the four as a whole. I&amp;#39;d appreciate it if someone could help me out, heres the essay I have written thus far: 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;Love poetry can be manipulated to affect the reader in numerous ways; the reader can empathise with the poem, the reader can be inspired by the sentiment of the poem, the reader can attempt to emulate the actions of the characters, the consequences of reading a stirring love poem persist. One aspect that all love poetry has in common is the way in which it can engross the reader in its world and engage with their emotional side. They achieve this by using a number of devices and several genres are used to conjure up vastly varying types of emotions: anger, amorousness, longing, and disgust amongst others. One of the foremost genres is that of the dramatic monologue â in which a character delivers a speech explaining their feelings, actions or motives. I will be analysing three starkly differing dramatic monologues: âMy Last Duchessâ, âTo His Coy Mistressâ and âPorphyriaâs Loverâ. Another variation of love poetry is that of the ballad; a timeless art form that is significantly popular to this day. A ballad tells a dramatic story in a direct style, focussing on a single story; repetition is a particularly commonly used convention in ballads. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Ballads are traditionally anonymous, and the poem I am analysing is no different: âBalladâ.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;âMy Last Duchessâ is written from the perspective of a duke who is on the verge of marrying the Countâs daughter and is conversing with the Countâs servant. His previous Duchess was murdered by the Duke himself and the speech could be interpreted as self-justification by the Duke as he attempts to defend his questionable philosophies. âBalladâ is a direct story told through the perspective of a young woman. The lady has fallen in love with a shepherd; unfortunately, it transpires that the man is dishonest. This is revealed when the shepherd impregnates the young woman and flees; his promises unfulfilled. The resolution is minimal at most, the female being left to contemplate suicide. The dramatic monologue has several different forms in itself; the two remaining poems showcase this perfectly. Despite the fact that they are completely different in theme, atmosphere and tempo, they retain the conventions of a dramatic monologue. âTo His Coy Mistressâ is a classic literary piece by Andrew Marvell. The poem is written through the eyes of a male, attempting to âswoonâ his prospective lady into falling for him and consequently, into bed. The male argues, then counter-balances his argument and then concludes, concluding that, surprisingly enough, she should go to bed with him. The last of the quartet is âPorphyriaâs Loverâ, the poem is told through the perspective of a madman sitting with his lover. Porphyria, the woman he loves, comes to his cottage and tells him she loves him. The madman wants to immortalise the moment forever, so he strangles her with her own hair. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;From the moment âMy Last Duchessâ begins, one can tell that the Duke is an incredibly possessive man. This is reinforced by the opening line, âThatâs my last Duchess painted on the wall.â This epitomises his attitude towards possessions of any kind. One could draw parallels with the overbearing Duke and Porphyriaâs lover, both extremely domineering and possessive. This is exemplified by the quote in âPorphyriaâs Loverâ, when the lover is on the verge of killing his woman, âThat moment she was mine, mine.â This epitomises the loverâs attitude, he is so desperate to own her that he kills her. Robert Browning conveys this obsessively possessive character by using repetition of the phrase, âmineâ. The theme of obsessive and possessive love on behalf of men is clearly at the forefront of Browningâs mind, portraying similar leading men in both of the poems.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;The Duke is speaking formally to a social inferior, as emphasised in this quote, âWillât please you sit and look at herâ¦Strangers like youâ¦â This insinuates that he is a polite, pleasant man who treats all social classes similarly hence making the revelation of him murdering his last Duchess all the more shocking. The domineering aspect of his character is re-enforced with the quote, âsince none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I.â This embellishes the fact that he sees himself the only one worthy of certain duties.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;Furthermore, he is clearly happier with the portrait of his wife, âas if aliveâ than he was with the woman when she was living. He is such an authoritarian that anything that he cannot order or control, whether it is art or people, will suffer the consequences. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;The poem is organised into rhyming couplets, not dissimilar to âBalladâ and âTo His Coy Mistressâ. However, âPorphyriaâs Loverâ does not use rhyming couplets; this may be due to the fact that Browning was looking for an unpredictable rhythm to reflect the unpredictable storyline. The couplets are used in the relative poems to keep a steady sense of rhythm and to keep the stories moving along at a stable pace. Moreover, Iambic pentameter is used throughout the poem to keep the poem flowing as the readers discover the gradual revelation of the speakerâs true nature. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;As the poem proceeds, it becomes clearer that the Duke is the epitome of excessive, aristocratic pride. This is accentuated by the quote: âAs if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybodyâs gift.â He is suggesting that she is inferior to him and should cherish the fact that she was allowed to marry him. The quote also carries connotations that he is extremely proud of his heritage and the last duchess didnât respect the name; she brought shame to the family. The line also emphasises how aloof he is, which is also supported by the ensuing line; âWhoâd stoop to blame?â He uses stoop to emphasis how lower class she was in comparison to himself. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;âMy Last Duchessâ uses archaic language, analogously to âBalladâ, as exemplified by the use of the phrase âforsoothâ (âHer wit to yours, forsooth, and made excuse). âBalladâ possesses a multitude of examples of such language using phrases such as âtheeâ, âthyâ and âthouâdstâ. The two poems use this anachronistic language to invoke different sentiments. âBalladâ uses antiquated language to emphasise the âtypical fairytaleâ aspect of the poem and to engage with the readers by evoking the style of older speech â it is aiming to retain the original essence of a poem. âMy Last Duchessâ uses archaism to accentuate the aloof aspect of the Dukeâs character.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;Despite the fact that the Duke has murdered the last Duchess, he clearly does not acknowledge, or perhaps understand, the direct consequences of his actions. This is implied heavily by the final three lines in which he points out another piece of art, a statue of Neptune â âNotice Neptune, thoughâ¦cast in bronze for me!â The exclamation mark confirms the fact that he is as proud of a statue and as excited of this Roman god as his wife. This implies that he does not realise the consequences of his actions, simply negating her as part of his collection. This sentiment is echoed in âPorphyriaâs Loverâ, in which the madman does not realise the corollary of the murder he has so harshly committed. This is supported by the phrase, âI propped her head up as before.â This statement conveys the fact that he does not recognise the significance of his actions; treating his dead love exactly the same as his living love.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;The two males in âTo His Coy Mistressâ and âMy Last Duchessâ may have&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;vastly differing personalities but they both view women in a similar light. The duke and the seductive lover have a certain attitude towards women; they both see women as objects, the only difference being that they view these objects through different perspective. The Duke in âMy Last Duchessâ is a supercilious, impertinent man; his status and wealth meaning more to him than love as showcased by the line âWhoâd stoop to blame this sort of trifling?â He believes that the late Duchess was of a lower class, thus tainting their love, implying that he is more perturbed with lack of status than lack of love. He is a megalomaniac, who is jealous about his ex-wife not giving only him her attention. The speaker in &amp;quot;To His Coy Mistress&amp;quot; seems like a respectful man, the speaker is articulate - an important attribute considering he is attempting to seduce the woman. He uses his way of words to flatter her, but we then learn that he only wants her for pleasure rather than love; he adopts a false persona of love as another technique to lure her. This is exemplified by the change of tone in the first to second stanza, the second stanza assumes a threatening tenor â emphasising a void-like image to win his lady â âAnd yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternityâ. This phrase epitomises the way in which the male attempts to manipulate the woman by conjuring up images on the topic of void if she was to reject his advances.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;The Duke patently feels that his last Duchess did not correspond with the expectations of an archetypal Duchess. An exemplary Duchess would be cold and calculating; avoiding affection like the plague.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;However, the Duchess did not, in the Dukeâs eyes, demonstrate these traits, as portrayed by this quote â âShe thanked men, - good! But thanked somehowâ¦as if she ranked my giftâ¦with anybodyâs gift.â The Duke is accusing the Duchess of being too affectionate, an attribute not welcome for a Duchess. Furthermore, the Duke surmises that the Duchess is too easily pleased, as showcased by this line in the poem â âToo easily impressed; she liked whateâer she looked on.â This illustrates (in the Dukeâs opinion) the fact that she is too âfriendlyâ and easy to please, particularly when dealing with males. However, it is extremely palpable that the Duchess is simply being friendly and the Duke is unable to understand his wifeâs warm nature. This attitude is reinforced when the Duke struggles to describe his wifeâs kind-hearted personality: âShe had a heart â how shall I say â too soon made glad?â This quote illustrates the fact that he cannot understand that aspect of his wifeâs personality; he expects much colder behaviour from his Duchess. &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;Despite the fact that the Duke is, as he put it, âdisgustedâ with the Duchessâ behaviour. She is described as a lovely free being; freedom is portrayed in the quote: âshe liked whateâer she looked on, and her looks went everywhere.â This quote depicts the Duchess as an impulsive, free soul. However, the Duchessâ free spirit is juxtaposed by the restrictive nature of the Duke as rendered by âI choose never to stoop,â and âI gave commands.â This suggests that the Duke is attempting to restrict the Duchess from being her spontaneous self. It seems that he failed and due to his authoritarian nature, he decreed that she should be murdered. The Duchess is represented as a beautiful person, both physically so and by nature. She loved nature, as emphasised by her association with the imagery of a sunset, a âbough of cherriesâ and her âwhite muleâ. The Duchess is shown as physically attractive â âthe faint half-flush that dies along her throat,â â not dissimilarly to the ladies in âTo His Coy Mistressâ and âPorphyriaâs Loverâ. The woman is clearly beautiful in the seductive poem âTo His Coy Mistressâ as conveyed by the use of doting similes (âThou by the Indian Gangesâ side shouldst rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain.â) He uses this imagery to compare her to an exotic river whereas he is an uninteresting English river. The technique is used to lavish praise upon the beautiful woman, portraying her as glamorous and beautiful; akin to the Ganges. âPorphyriaâs Loverâ uses a beautiful lady to emphasise the surprising (and brutal) nature of the death and juxtapose the madman thus creating a sense of paranoia on behalf of the lover. The gracious beauty of Porphyria is emphasised by the repetition of her âyellow hairâ and her âsmooth white shoulderâ. Beauty is used in the two murderous poems to juxtapose the leading men thus creating a sense of wonder. Splendour is used in âTo His Coy Mistressâ to intensify the efforts and give further cause to the leading manâs attempt to seduce the lady.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;Alliteration is used in âMy Last Duchessâ (âdropping of the daylight.â, âyour masterâs known munificenceâ) to maintain a rhythm and perhaps for the Duke to flaunt his eloquent speaking ability. The poem is written in heroic couplets with almost continuous enjambment; this technique gives the poem a conversational style â essential for creating a rapport between the reader and the Duke. Browning uses dramatic irony to illustrate the dukeâs manipulative and callous character towards the end of the poem, as he refers to the girl he wants to marry as âmy objectâ (the Duke does not realise how much he is revealing about his personality throughout not only this quote, but the whole poem). &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/span&gt; 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The Duke is the epitome of possessive, arrogant egotism. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;...and that is as far as I have got. Thanks in advance.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;h1&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, when&amp;nbsp;I copied and pasted the essay from word, it seemed to get rid of them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: Punctuation 4, please approve my answers</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/PunctuationApproveAnswers/zmkrc/post.htm#479453</link><pubDate>Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:13:11 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:479453</guid><dc:creator>Grammar Geek</dc:creator><description>&lt;p&gt;You did a good job on this.&amp;nbsp; 
&lt;p&gt;I would make only a couple changes, and a few&amp;nbsp;are open to interpretation. 
&lt;p&gt;1) If he said it kindly, and didn&amp;#39;t shout, then use a comma, not an exclamation mark, which would indicate that he&amp;#39;s shouting.&amp;nbsp; 
&lt;p&gt;2) Don&amp;#39;t make &amp;quot;That&amp;#39;s the same as mine&amp;quot; into a question. 
&lt;p&gt;3) I would make the &amp;quot;No?&amp;quot; into&amp;nbsp;a question. It&amp;#39;s almost like a tag without the main part. 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img src="/Themes/englishforums/images/icon-quote.gif"&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Anil17&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt; 
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;span&gt;âCome&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;font&gt; here&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; my little man&lt;strong&gt;&lt;font color="#00ccff"&gt;,&lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;&lt;span&gt;â&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; said the policeman&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; kindly.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;âWhy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; are you crying&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;?â&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;span&gt;âThatâs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;font&gt; the same as mine&lt;font color="#00ccff"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;Where&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; do you live&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;Tommy&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;?â&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;font&gt;&lt;span&gt;âDo&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;font&gt; you know the number on your door&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;No&lt;font color="#00ccff"&gt;?&lt;/font&gt; Maybe&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; your house has a name&lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;Has&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt; it &lt;b&gt;&lt;span&gt;Tommy?â&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: 1)How can we call the package that helicopters throw on the land when t</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/CallPackageHelicoptersThrowLand/zkwqj/post.htm#469328</link><pubDate>Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:57:20 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:469328</guid><dc:creator>Belly</dc:creator><description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;table width="85%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="txt4"&gt;&lt;img src="/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Mister Micawber wrote:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="quoteTable"&gt;&lt;table width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"&gt;&lt;BR&gt;
&lt;DIV class=KonaBody&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;1) &lt;B&gt;What&lt;/B&gt; can we call the package that helicopters throw on the land when there is a catastrophe happens? &lt;I&gt;-- (Emergency) Aid packages?&amp;nbsp; Air drops?&lt;/I&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;2) About punctuation, should we punctuate before or after the : She told me&lt;B&gt;,&lt;/B&gt;" I want to go out&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=red&gt;.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt; &lt;FONT color=red&gt;"&lt;/FONT&gt; or She told me&lt;B&gt;,&lt;/B&gt;" I want to go out&lt;FONT color=red&gt;".&lt;/FONT&gt;) -- &lt;I&gt;Most American punctuation guides place the full stop (or period) invariably inside the quotation mark, while British guides place it inside or out depending on the part to which it is applicable.&amp;nbsp; I think.&amp;nbsp; Or is it the other way around?&amp;nbsp; Anyway, there is contention, sometimes heated&lt;/I&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;" &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;= quotation mark&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;,&lt;/FONT&gt; = comma&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;' &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;= apostrophe&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;/ &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;= slash or backslash&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;)&lt;/FONT&gt; = parenthesis (AmE) or bracket (BrE)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;#&lt;/FONT&gt; = number sign, pound sign, octothorpe&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;? &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;= question mark, interrogation point&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=darkgreen&gt;! &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;= exclamation mark/point&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;I&gt;There are probably other names as well.&lt;/I&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;BR&gt;Do I need two )) here or just one? --&lt;I&gt; Two, but it would be better to rearrange the sentence to avoid the duplication; it is unattractive.&lt;/I&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(245,245,255)"&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;/P&gt;

&lt;P&gt;Hi,&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Actually, in sentence one, the thing I want to ask is:&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;If you can imagine, when inundations come to one province, people of other provinces donates food, drink, money etc (I'm still confused when can we use plural or singular for food and drink here).... and they pack them all in packages which is then sent to the poor province... What can we call that?&lt;/P&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: 1)How can we call the package that helicopters throw on the land when t</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/CallPackageHelicoptersThrowLand/zkwnr/post.htm#469268</link><pubDate>Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:32:38 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:469268</guid><dc:creator>Mister Micawber</dc:creator><description>&lt;br&gt;&lt;div class="KonaBody"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;1) &lt;b&gt;What&lt;/b&gt; can we call the package that helicopters throw on the land when there is a catastrophe happens? &lt;i&gt;-- (Emergency) Aid packages?&amp;nbsp; Air drops?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;2) About punctuation, should we punctuate before or after the : She told me&lt;b&gt;,&lt;/b&gt;" I want to go out&lt;strong&gt;&lt;font color="red"&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;font color="red"&gt;"&lt;/font&gt; or She told me&lt;b&gt;,&lt;/b&gt;" I want to go out&lt;font color="red"&gt;".&lt;/font&gt;) -- &lt;i&gt;Most American punctuation guides place the full stop (or period) invariably inside the quotation mark, while British guides place it inside or out depending on the part to which it is applicable.&amp;nbsp; I think.&amp;nbsp; Or is it the other way around?&amp;nbsp; Anyway, there is contention, sometimes heated&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;" &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;= quotation mark&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;,&lt;/font&gt; = comma&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt; &lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;' &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;= apostrophe&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;/ &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;= slash or backslash&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;)&lt;/font&gt; = parenthesis (AmE) or bracket (BrE)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt; &lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;#&lt;/font&gt; = number sign, pound sign, octothorpe&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;? &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;= question mark, interrogation point&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color="darkgreen"&gt;! &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;= exclamation mark/point&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;i&gt;There are probably other names as well.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;br&gt;Do I need two )) here or just one? --&lt;i&gt; Two, but it would be better to rearrange the sentence to avoid the duplication; it is unattractive.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;font style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 255);"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: OTHERWISE = DIFFERENT ?</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/OtherwiseDifferent/cxgkq/post.htm#237744</link><pubDate>Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:21:34 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:237744</guid><dc:creator>Grammar Geek</dc:creator><description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;table width="85%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="txt4"&gt;&lt;img src="/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Stevenukd wrote:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="quoteTable"&gt;&lt;table width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Dear Teachers,&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;1. - Why don't you call Clive? He has Mary's number.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; - I've tried. But no one answered.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; - You are so dead. &lt;FONT color=#000080&gt;You are totally out of luck. There's no hope for you. (This is not literal! You're not dying - you would use this, for example,&amp;nbsp;if you were tyring to get an assignment that was due and no one could help you.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;2. - Keep back / back up. Otherwise I will kill her.&amp;nbsp; &lt;FONT color=#000080&gt;I assume this is dialogue in some suspense story? Keep back! (You need an exclamation mark for it to be natural.) Also, you'd probably say "Or I'll kill her."&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; - Forward! give them a big beat. &lt;FONT color=#000080&gt;No - I don't know what this means.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;3. "The truth is quite different"&amp;nbsp; &lt;FONT color=#000080&gt;this is fine &lt;/FONT&gt;and "The truth is quite otherwise"&amp;nbsp; &lt;FONT color=#000080&gt;this is not natural. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;- Are these the same meaning? &lt;FONT color=#000080&gt;You can say something like "You'll soon find out otherwise"&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: The Condition of the Enviroment</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/ConditionEnviroment/mvgz/post.htm#60219</link><pubDate>Wed, 08 Dec 2004 17:11:49 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:60219</guid><dc:creator>anon1</dc:creator><description>Hi,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You opening is weak because you repeat yourself or state the obvious.  Look at your first two sentences.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The rest of your essay is reasonably well written from an English point of view.  From a logical point of view, it could use more work.  For example, filtering effluent from factories is unlikely the problem.  But you could âtreatâ the effluent from factories.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If I were in your shoes, I would be more inclined to write about ONE topic (air pollution or something).  By covering off all types of pollution your essay becomes too bland or superficial because you are forced to state the obvious.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Again, from an English perspective, you are doing well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MountainHiker&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Condition of the Environment &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[More and more people are getting concerned about the environment nowadays. The number of such people is growing very rapidly. The reason for it is quite obvious: people do not want to live on the polluted and consequently dangerous planet. &lt;br /&gt;I would emphasize three main problems. First of all, itâs air pollution. Itâs proved that air pollution adversely affects your health and can cause a large number of diseases such as cancer for example.  Delete---paragraph.  Try rephrasing] &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In order to solve this problem we should simply take some measures to cut down air pollution in big cities. For instance, we could introduce a law (law is a good work, or âactâ) which would forbid factories to [work and produce anything without special filtersâdelete, exceed environmental limits]. It would also be good if we banned cars from city centers. Such a measure would have a very good effect in rather small cities with the population not more than 1.5 million people. [What about larger cities?  Whatâs special about 1.5 million?] The citizens of small cities can usually get to the city center by bus or even on foot. Cars release so many poisonous gases into the air that reduction of the number of cars in such cities would result in the reduction of these poisonous gases. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Secondly, it is the so-called problem of litter. Plenty of people are very worried about this problem, too.[obvious statement, no?] Dirty streets can give you only a very slight idea of what dropping litter in streets can result in. Dropping an aluminum can in the street just think how much harm it might do.[repetitive] Bearing in mind that we contract many diseases by inhaling infected air and litter [we inhale litter?] creates the most favourable conditions for bacterium you will probably break the habit of dropping litter in streets. Itâs not difficult to put your can in a litter bin at all! [you should avoid exclamation marks in essays,]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lastly, itâs water pollution. To my mind, the best way of solving this problem is to fine factories which pollute rivers, lakes, and seas. Before fining them, it would be a good idea to make all the factories install filters which reduce the number of poisonous substances polluting water. [youâll need more than filters] However, in most countries itâs impossible to do it due to these factories being of great value to them. As a result, they canât stop using factories or reduce the volume of their production. Another good way of solving the problem of water pollution is to limit use of chemicals in industry. But here we face another problem. Many plants canât help stopping using some chemicals since they cannot work without them. So, we are in a dilemma over whether to fine factories polluting lakes, seas, and rivers and to reduce the volume of their production or not. [No, the real question is do you want to spend more money and raise the production costs to reduce the harmful effects?]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is no doubt there are plenty of other environmental problems such as acid rains, deforestation, global warming and so on and so forth but to my mind, these problems are not as topical now as those I mentioned. [Depends on where you live.  If you were living near the ocean, global warming would be a major concern as the ocean levels might rise with the melting of the ice caps.  Remember Kyoto?  Global warming.  If you lived in Brazil, deforestation might be your largest concern.] &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Having paid so much attention to all these environmental problems I have to say a few words about recycling. It is a very important subject, and one that is becoming more so all the time. There are four main materials which can be recycled. First of all, it is paper. Paper is considered to be the easiest material to recycle. For instance, 20 tons of paper was recycled in the USA [There was more than 20 tons of paper recycled in my neighborhood last year, let alone an entire country] in 1990 which was a big success. Secondly, itâs metal. This material is also rather easy to recycle. A huge number of things we use are made of metal, so the more metal we recycle the better our planet will be. Thirdly, itâs plastic. This material is the hardest one to recycle. The reason why itâs so hard to recycle plastic is that there are a great many kinds of it. Lastly, itâs glass. Glass like metal and paper is fairly easy to recycle. Therefore, itâs recycled all over the world. You can just melt it down and use to make new bottles. The main problem here is that we can discover recycling chiefly in the highly developed countries. Itâs rare to discover recycling (which is really working now) in many developing countries. Nevertheless, I assume recycling helps us get rid of many problems mentioned above. If both the countries which have already been using recycling actively and those which have just started continue recycling more and more materials and trying to invent new methods of recycling it will do a world of good not only to our planet but also all people living on it.&lt;br /&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: Correct Punctuation within Parentheses</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorrectPunctuationWithinParentheses/jhmb/post.htm#46445</link><pubDate>Mon, 20 Sep 2004 16:04:20 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:46445</guid><dc:creator>anon1</dc:creator><description>Hi Matthewg,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Actually, I agree with Garbl.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I think he is advocating not to capitalize the first letter for aesthetic reasons.  If parenthetic sentences are capitalized, then the eye is confused when reading.  Remember, people usually read at a fast pace (especially in today's business environment).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1) But if we were to suddently capitalize phrases or even sentences within parentheses, then the eye might stumble (Here's an example).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When you read the above sentence, you are not sure if the parenthetical thought is a continuous part of the prior sentence or if it is a start of a completely separate parenthetical thought.  Did the prior sentence end?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I believe that the three books you reference are discussing when both the parenthetical thought and sentence both share a period, then just put the period outside.  See number 1 above and 1b below.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1b) But if we were to suddently capitalize phrases or even sentences within parentheses, then the eye might stumble (here's an example).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 1b, I changed the "H" to "h".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But if were to rewrite that same example with an exclamation point, then it changes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1a) But if we were to suddently capitalize phrases or even sentences within parentheses, then the eye might stumble (here's an example!).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am using the exclamation point for my strong emphasis.  That's allowed.  But I still haven't closed the punctuation to the main sentence.  So I need to maintain the period after the last parenthesis.  I can't move the exclamation mark to the outside because I don't want the whole sentence emphasized, just the parenthetical thought.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's how I read Garbl's advice.  Not that I am an authority, but I tend to agree with it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hope that helps.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MountainHiker</description></item></channel></rss>