Search results for 'tag:Paragraphs tag:Punctuation' matching tags 'Paragraphs' and 'Punctuation'

Re: Paragraph to be checked for punctuation errors.

Clive — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 12:20:52 GMT

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Here is my version of the paragraphs-- please let me know if I have missed anything or have anything wrong.

All too often, it seems that the Canadian national pastime is complaining about the weather. Our hot summers are criticized because they're too hot, while our springs are too wet, our autumns too cool, and our winters too long. If the climate is so bad here, why does anyone live north of the US border? Perhaps the problem is not that Canadians don't like living in Canada, but rather love to complain.

The most popular sports teams in Canada were, at one time, those with the worst records: the Argonauts and the modern Maple Leafs. Could this popularity be due to the ample opportunity and scope they gave to their fans for complaint? Not only do we bemoan the losing record of such teams, but when they do win, we dwell with glee on the possibilities of disaster for next year.

The same syndrome might be seen in our attitude towards our Canadian heroes. It has often been said that we are a nation without heroes, but I suspect that we have plenty of candidates. It's just that we enjoy complaining so much we try to find fault wherever we can, and love pointing out the clay feet of our great figures. One cannot help but wonder how Canadians fare in heaven. Where everything is perfect, surely we must be desperately unhappy in such circumstances?

Best wishes, Clive (from Canada )

Paragraph to be checked for punctuation errors.

emchapps — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:47:04 GMT

Hey everyone, I'm taking a correspondence course, and I would appreciate anyone who will proofread this assignment for me and let me know if I did anything wrong. Thanks! :)

Assignment: Add the necessary punctuation in the following paragraphs, and change any punctuation that is used incorrectly.

all too often it seems that the canadian national pastime is complaining about the weather our hot summers are criticized because theyre too hot while our springs are too wet our autumns too cool and our winters too long. If the climate is so bad here why does anyone live north of the US border. perhaps the problem is not that canadians dont like living in canada but rather love to complain.

The most popular sports teams in canada were at one time those with the worst records; the argonauts and the modern maple leafs could this popularity be due to the ample opportunity and scope they gave to their fans for complaint. not only do we bemoan the losing record of such teams but when they do win we dwell with glee on the possibilities of disaster for next year.

the same syndrome might be seen in our attitude towards our canadian heroes, it has often been said "that we are a nation without heroes" but I suspect that we have plenty of candidates: its just that we enjoy complaining so much we try to find fault wherever we can and love pointing out the clay feet of our great figures one cannot help but wonder how Canadians fare in heaven where everything is perfect, surely we must be desperately unhappy in such circumstances.

(Taken from The Bare Essentials -- Form A, Norton and Green)

Here is my version of the paragraphs-- please let me know if I have missed anything or have anything wrong.

All too often, it seems that the Canadian national pastime is complaining about the weather. Our hot summers are criticized because they're too hot, while our springs are too wet; our autumns, too cool, and our winters, too long. If the climate is so bad here, why does anyone live north of the US border? Perhaps the problem is not that Canadians don't like living in Canada, but rather love to complain.

(Taken from The Bare Essentials -- Form A, Norton and Green)

Re: SOP/Letter of Motivation for Msc in Entrepreneurship

AlpheccaStars — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:40:17 GMT

There are many examples posted on this site. http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=%22motivation+letter%22

Hint:

These documents typically take a long time to edit. You are more likely to get help if you do the following:

1) Post only a paragraph or so at a time.

2) Have your writing well thought-out and corrected as best as you can first. You won't get much help if there are lots of simple spelling errors, poor punctuation, and small "i's" instead of capital I's, etc.

3) Don't say, I am applying for *** degree at *** university at *** specializing in ***. All that "***" stuff makes it nearly impossible to decipher. If you want to protect your privacy, just replace all the *** stuff with fake names and places.

4) Keep in mind that we are volunteers. We don't get paid. If you are rude or impatient, you will get what you deserve.

Re: punctuation and its differing effect

Grammar Geek — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:27:52 GMT

I will join you on the bandwagon that says that ... should NOT be used as a stand-in for almost any conceivable general punctuation mark. The more Internet writing I read, the more I wonder if anyone is being taught how to use a period, a comma, a semi-colon, or (yes) a dash, because... well... these seem to be used... just... anywhere. And yes, I will use them in my e-mails to friends as well, but usually to show a trailing off of thought, NOT as substitute for a comma, and I am quite capable of using other punctuation in the same ...uh... what do you call them? Oh yeah... paragraph.

I will agree that a page full of dashes shows the writer did not take a lot of time to think things through, though I used them frequently myself in my fast, casual communications. I use them in my marketing materials too, but very sparingly. (In other words, if the writing is full of dashes and had enough time to write it properly, I agree with the assessment of "lazy" but I think more common these days is "hurried.)

Re: please help my with my motivation letter

ferpectedit — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:08:19 GMT

I won't do the whole letter, but I will do an edit of the first paragraph (including the salutation). Here's my edit.

To The Selection Committee:

I recently graduated from the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan with a ___degree in __ __. The past few years I have been working on different projects related to nanoscience in a collaboration of my university with the applied physics department of the CIVESTAV-IPN. I had the opportunity to present some of my results in different international conferences, giving me the opportunity to see how fast the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology are growing.

Never assume that everyone on the committee is a man--and always put a colon after a salutation on a business letter. If the degree was a Master's or Ph.D., say so. I don't recognize your field (which might be my shortcoming), so double-check the name for the type of engineering degree you have. You should also explain (even if you just give the full or English name) what CIVESTAV-IPN is. Good luck!

social justice issue essay

sandie_bummie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:45:33 GMT

hi! i need to write essay about social justice issue, and my topic is "marriage". can somebody help me check my grammarm verb tense and proofread it for me. thanks in advance i really appreciate it..

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Social Justice âMarriageâ

Marriage is a custom which can be found in every human culture. Although the forms and rules are differ. Marriage is a form of commitment between man and woman. It is a legal recognized relationship by a religious ceremony between man and woman who intent to live together as sexual and domestic partners. It is can also an arrangement between families whereby parents create a kind of business transaction in order to maintain family status and level. Modern marriages become more complicated today due to social justice issue such as homosexual marriage and divorce.

Arrangement marriage used to be common in the ancient world and it is still practice in most countries today especially to those high power and status families. Parents have control over their childâs happiness. They will one who will choose and decide to whom their child going to marry. For the sake of family status and power they sacrifice their own childâs happiness. Freedom and happiness have been taken out from their children. Arrangement marriage is also a form of solemn promise between two families. My parent married was arranged but they opting for love marriage. Even though they donât love each other, but at least they know each other for long time. They try to accept and love the one another and now they live happily with six children in a comfortable living. This kind of marriage arrangement is good because both families know each other very well. But not for others, they donât even know who their going to marry. They cannot see the appearance and personality until the wedding day. Marriage means people marrying for love and live rest of their life for the person their love. Unfortunately, marriage is just a primary union which made good economic sense and in order to solidify political alliances.

Modern people are pushing the trend toward amorality same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage has been top debate issue in our political and society today. Even higher Supreme Courts take action about this matter. Majority people are opposing about same-sex marriage or gay marriage, especially in religious groups. They insist that marriage is between one man and on woman. They been taught this way and it was written in Holy Bible for many thousand years. As a Christian myself, I have been taught by pastors, church members and family that there only two gender that God created. Gay is considering a moral sin. Although, I have been taught that way but I never look down on gay people. I have big respect for them, it is not their choice to be gay it happen from their own will. They also human have the right to choose who they want to married. I support gay civil union for gay couples, but it doesnât mean that I support gay marriage. Marriage has been union of one man and one woman in all human cultures throughout human history. It has been the standard custom in many cultures for several thousand years. Unfortunately, the definition of marriage today is radically different from what it was several thousand years ago. Same-sex marriage destroys the definition of marriage, because it no longer represents the inherently procreative relationship of opposite sex pair bonding.

Marriage was born from primitive cultures that recognized that males and females mated and as a result produced children that needed to be cared for. Unfortunately, the rates of files divorce increasing rapidly especially in United State. Many people filing divorce because the relationship is not going well. In the first place they didnât know what is marriage really means. They just though that the intimate love between two people are enough to get married. It is more than that; it is more on responsibility and sacrifice. It is an idea couples committing for life and raising children together and sharing the struggles of survival. Divorce is the most stressful event that affects family especially on children. Children may feel a great loss and as well as anxiety and sadness. Back in hundred years ago, divorce cases are very rare. Even the love between both parents is gone; they still stay together for the sake of their children. Parent divorce made a big impact on children, from old saying that âchildren learn what they liveâ is very true. Parent is childrenâs role model, whatever parent do the children will imitate it. Children of divorced parents perform more poorly in school. They also are more likely to repeat a grade and to have higher drop-out rates and lower rates of college graduation. It is really big impact for our society; federal government spent more money on school because higher repeat grade. Marriage is foundation of family. However, the foundation is getting weak and higher consumption for singles.

The meaning of marriage is differs from one person to another, from time to another. In ancient times, marriage is a form condition where women most treated as a property for men. Historically period, marriage is permanent institution that once entered cannot be dissolved beside death. Romantic love has been made the most important basis for marriage. Marriage is also a commitment and agreement of both men and women. Certainly, in the modern world, the meaning of marriage is become more complicated. Marriage is primary union which made good economic sense. People are pushing the trend into an amorality society. Same-sex couples are pursuing the right to be married. Unfortunately, a legal recognition didnât allow same-sex to be married, it will change the meaning of marriage extremely differ. In addition, higher divorce rates many children will not be raised in a traditional family unit. The meaning of marriage never define, it is changing as the times change. As society changes, the institution of marriage changes as well.

Re: Punctuation within quotes?

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:06:53 GMT

These punctuation marks (the British call them inverted commas) come in two forms, double and single. The double quotation marks (opening â and closing â) are used to enclose the words of a direct quotation: She said, âIâll never see you again.â (They are never used in indirect quotation: She said sheâd never see him again.) They are also used to enclose words or phrases quoted from others or words that may be slang or that are in some other way being used peculiarly: The speaker tried to put a favorable âspinâ on his denial. The âpacification planâ was in fact simply a euphemism for a bloody conquest. But be sparing: most editors discourage the use of such quotation marks for effect rather than for a substantive reason, and overuse of these marks in any writing is affected.	1
Convention also calls for double quotation marks around the titles of short stories, short poems, short musical compositions, and the names of plays, chapters in books, and radio and television programs: Frostâs âThe Road Not Taken,â âEye Witness News.â (Titles of longer works usually require italics instead, and sometimes the decision is arbitrary or simply conventional: books of the Bible, for example, are almost always italicized rather than placed in quotation marks, and the same is true of the titles of Shakespeareâs plays.)	2
A key problem with quotation marks is which other marks of punctuation go inside the closing quotation mark(s) and which belong outside. In the United States, most stylebooks and most editors follow these rules: periods and commas belong inside, colons and semicolons outside. Other marksâquestion mark, dash, and exclamation point, for exampleâgo inside when they belong with the quoted material, outside when they belong to the main sentence. British editorial conventions differ.	3
When quoting a long passage of two or more paragraphs, the usual procedure in written American English is to use no quotation marks and instead to set off the entire passage of quoted matter by indenting it. If you decide to use quotation marks instead, however, the usual procedure is to begin each paragraph of the long quotation with quotation marks but to use a closing quotation mark only at the end of the final sentence in the quoted passage. In any event, use only one of these methods with any given quotation. See also POETRY.	4
British publishers frequently use single quotation marks (opening â and closing â) where Americans use double quotation marks. In American writing, however, single quotation marks are restricted mainly to enclosing a quotation within a quotation: The dealer said, âIâm sorry, I thought you said âI pass.ââ Note that a period goes inside both final quotation marks when the two quotations end together.

plz help. use of "more or less"

Lrk2006 — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:28:30 GMT

"Computer is an electronic machine. This machine can perform such tasks more or less the way our brains do. We can teach it how to perform a job."

Kindly correct the above paragraph. the punctuation. and any other change which will make it more appealing. thank you.

can we write as: We can train it how to perform specific jobs.

is jobs =? tasks
is certain =? specific

When a Smile is not a Smile

mindatrisk — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 20:30:24 GMT

Hello, this is an article that I have written to promote some theory that I have written, I know it is quite long, but if anyone could check my grammar and punctuation then I would be very grateful. I am most concerned about the second paragraph. Thank you.

..

When a smile is not a smile â¦

â¦ A customer that seems to be cared about is not the same as a customer that is cared about.

Herein lies your biggest problem. You want the customer service consultant that really does care about your customers. You want the customer service consultant that will sprint the extra mile, preferably shoe laces tied up, but more than willing to trip up in making the effort. You want the customer service consultant that, when the customer is satisfied, is plucking the cherry that makes them delighted.

This is the customer service consultant that sees a human being, and not just a cardboard cut-out customerâ¦ that sees a human being who craves peace of mind, and not just someone to make money fromâ¦ that sees that delivering them peace of mind is the best way to make money from them, and with the customers abiding blessings. These are the customer service consultants that you want. And these are the customer service consultants that you rarely get.

Except â¦

â¦ you do already have them.

Climb atop of your desk (it looks grand and health and safety is overrated anyway) and cast your gaze across the room. You donât see it, and for some reason they donât either. But your workforce - every last one of them - actually really does care about your customers. They care a lot. But they have forgotten, so now they must be reminded. For their good, for your good and for the customers good.

This should be music to your ears. It is vital, vital, vital for your business that your customers are cared about. But how to make your consultants care? You could cc them into a warm fuzzy, but this will work against you as much as for you. You can tie a bulging bonus to a piece of string and hope that they play chase, but on a cold Monday morning with three months until that quarterly bonus and a screaming customer on the line this probably isnât the incentive to transform the moment into a customer care heaven scene. You could even Go TotalitarianÂ© and attach electrodes to their nipples, but then youâd have to relocate east, and we all know how customers feel about foreign contact centres.

The thing is, none of this can make them care about the customer. Instead they push, shove and drag themselves into as much pleasantry as they can summon to try to seem like they care, then get stressed under the pressure of pretending to be what they do not feel for nine hours and leave their job mid-shift on a âtoilet breakââ¦ Not good for business. Your consultants need to care, so how?

Well â¦

â¦ Human beings are naturally altruistic.

Most of us do what we can when we can for other people. Many endeavour to do volunteer work with the most vulnerable in our society. Why? Because it makes us feel good. Altruism is enjoyable. Serving other human beings is enjoyable. Now, if serving other people makes us feel so good about ourselves then why on Godâs concrete Earth is the customer SERVICE sector not populated by the shiniest happiest people in all the land? I mean, these are people who get to serve other people ALL DAY LONGâ¦ and get paid! Those early morning birds / cars that wake us from our slumber should be greeted with a fairytale smile and twinkle in the eye at the prospect of nine whole hours at the call centre! âCall centre work rules!â should be graffiti scrawled across red-brick campus wallsâ¦ But it isnât. Why not? No, seriously, why not? A bit of help hereâ¦ Please?

Okay, so I am not quite sure why it is that temples arenât erected in honour of customer service, but I do know that, at least metaphorically, it is a very real possibility. We have the ingredients cut neatly on the faux marble work surface, and now we have our super-food in altruism that is going to bind and nourish this recipe.

Because â¦

â¦ Your staff do care about your customers.

They care because they are human beings who care about other human beings and enjoy caring about other human beings. And to be quite frank (but still Richard), very few of us do justice to how much we care when interacting with others. What is needed most of the time is just that little dash of awareness to bring out our altruistic flavours. You see, awareness leads us to empathy, and empathy finds a nature within us that is worlds apart from ourselves sans awareness.

For a heavy but clarifying example, if we knew that a loved one were to die tomorrow then there would be very little that they could do to upset or anger usâ¦ and yet, we do not know that a loved one will not die tomorrow. So, what gives? Simply put, what gives is that we just do not think about that. If we did then our compassionate nature would flourish and accord instinctively, but we donât and so we donât.

Letâs think about the customer. It is well documented that there is a certain breed of customer out there in the capitalist wilds that have been observed and classified (even tagged) as âdifficultâ. They are the ones that do not grasp that, maybe just maybe, the problem that they have most likely did not originate with yourselves, and that you are just the unfortunates with a target white tacked to your forehead. But this does not matter! This flight is under your control! Because, with that liberal sprinkle of awareness, you will see beyond your prevailing perception that, actually, this customer, like all human beings, probably has a very good reason for sharing their complete and utter disregard with you, and if you knew that reason (money problems, depression, abuse, tight trousers etc. etc.) then you would most likely feel compassion for the customer and really want to help them outâ¦ because you are human and you know what it is to hurt and you do care when other human beings hurt too.

Customer service â¦

â¦ is just human interaction.

And like any human interaction it can a be stimulating, meaningful, rewarding and educating experience. It is ludicrous like a hamster tasting tomato or a square shaped circle or tomorrow being yesterday and today for contact centre work to be considered mundane, repetitive and unsatisfying workâ¦ Ludicrous, I say! This work is river-bed rich in opportunity for growth through a constant and varied interaction with other peopleâ¦ a variety of interaction that is unique to customer care. An obnoxious customer may test your patience, or your tolerance may be spread nano thin by a customers heavy regional accent, but each is a challenge that can be embraced as a remarkable opportunity to learn and grow and express yourselves as human beings who really do careâ¦ Not just to become an ace hot-shot customer service consultant, and not even just because you will enjoy more harmonious and supportive relationships, but most of all because â¦

â¦ You Will Be Happy.

Lest I forget that this here article has been written to promote my training program, it goes without saying - even though I am going to say it - that this will be FANTASTIC for business. Perhaps even more so than I dare to believe at the moment, what with me being such a young upstart armed with a hat rack full of paradigm busting, evolutionary catalysing ideas, and all.

What I do is simpleâ¦ I gently wake people up. A little nudge here and a metaphorical Clockwork Orange eye opener there, until that natural vein of empathy is tapped and an expanded awareness is buckled in, and all of a sudden your consultants are charmed and honoured to be talking to even the most profound hell raising customerâ¦ I mean, we are talking about another human being here, devil horns or polished halo, this is an incomprehensibly unique individual who deserves the happiness that we too pursue, and you know what, maybe our happiness is invested in our desire to deliver them their happiness? I wouldnât be the first crazy to propose that maybe, just maybe, happiness has something to do with love, and not 6 digits in the fools gold account.

I am the perspective engineer that turns your thinking inside out until your customer nightmares are embraced as divine opportunities to practice and develop qualities like patience and tolerance which in turn make your customer service even betterâ¦ Genius! You get the consultants that your dreams dare not allocate space for, with customers who stall in their rant tracks in case this is actually the Dalai Lama answering their complaint, in a working environment that will have your staff wondering whether the golden age of peace and love is to begin in the humble call centre.

However, my motivation is not, and never will be, to make you more moneyâ¦ conversely, it is exactly that which will make you more successful than maybe even your calculator allows for.

The truth is that the insightful company who recognises that compassion and altruism and all other such nice, heart warming, picnic scene feelings are the key to customer care is the company that is going to be heralded as a visionary. If that company is yours, and you see the potential wonderfulness in what I have to offer, with the chance to cast yourselves in the non-fluorescent light of a pioneering and compassionate company; explorers in new directions and methods to attain excellence for the hallowed customer, whilst shattering the Made in Another EraÂ© mould and reassembling the pieces to form a new and vibrant era in mature and humanist customer care and employee regard, thenâ¦ HIRE ME! Or you could just ask for more informationâ¦

Here I amâ¦ Contact me!

Email: <removed by mod. Please include your contact details in your profile, if you want other members to contact you.>

Phone: <removed.>

Thank you for reading, it has been a pleasure having you read these words. And remember that, with thinkingâ¦. there is no box.

About the authorâ¦.

I am Richard Horrocks. I am a pioneering spirit with a passion for serving all human beings. I am here to deliver progressive and multi-dimensional ideas to those corners and shadows where they are most neededâ¦. The freshest ideas since âMilk-from-the-udder-Shakesâ.

Comma Help - Regarding Title of Movie

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:59:54 GMT

Hello Friends,

I need to know, for what reason, a comma was left out of this title: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I was viewing the plot description on the website IMDB, and could not help to wonder why a comma wasn't placed in the title of the movie after the word Stock. I do not know if the editors made a mistake or if there is a comma rule that I am unfamiliar with. Please provide some insight by doing the following: defining the comma rule, if there is one; providing some examples, and answering the questions that I have below.

1) Are there are punctuation errors in the paragraph above?
2) After using a colon, do I need to capitalize the following sentence? Would this apply to a list, as well?
3) Are there any grammar websites that you can recommend to me? I could easily do a Google search, but I want to know websites that you highly recommend.

Thanks,

James Arroy