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

Re: This is my first writing. Please help check my writing.

Skrej — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:12:04 GMT

Hi Neung,

I've made some corrections to your essay. Any corrections I made are now in red letters. If you have any questions about what I mean, or would like a more detailed explanation on why something was incorrect, please ask. We'll try to answer.

Anonymous

My name is Jeerapun Khunsopa and My (don't capitalize 'my') nickname is Nueng. I 'm 22 years old. I was born in Suphan Buri province and move (should be 'moved', since it's in the past) to Bangkok, ~~this is~~ (remove the words 'this is', and add a comma after Bangkok) a big city, (add another comma) with my family when I was nine years old. I graduated from Bangkapi school of fishing. My favorite websites are Google, Yahoo! <... some URLs removed by a mod.> I enjoy visiting tourists attractions and traveling. I also enjoy reading, going to movies and watching TV. I'm very interested in politics. I am following the presidential race in my county. I'm also interested in the global warming crisis and alternative sources of energy, such as solar and wind power. My dream job would be to run a successful Internet company that helped people. I have visited Cambodia,Cannada, (correct spelling is 'Canada', with only 1 'n') Hong kong, (capitalize 'k' in 'Kong') Laos and Mexico. I went to Chiang Mai on my last vacation. It was great! ~~and~~ (remove the word 'and' to avoid a sentence fragment) I do not have any pets, but I wish that I had a dog. My house does not allow pets. I have two brothers and one sister. If I won a million Baht, I would travel around the world. I would really like to visit Japan. My hight (correct spelling is 'height) is 173 and My weight is 64. My blood type is B and My (don't capitalize 'my') hobbies is ('hobbies' is plural, you need the plural verb 'are' instead) Listen (this should be 'listening' instead of 'listen, and don't capitalize it) to the radio, and (since there are only 2 hobbies, remove the comma and add the word 'and') read (this should be 'reading' instead of 'read') catoon. My address is Bangkapi

Neung, I think this was very good work for your first writting attempt. You did have a few very minor mistakes, but you still did quite well.

One more thing to remember, is that when you're typing things on the Internet, always put 2 spaces after a sentence, instead of one, to make them easier to read. This is a very minor thing, but it does make all writing a little easier to read, (even if it's written correctly!)

Re: gas hike

Cool Breeze — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:46:02 GMT

New2grammar
The government has been known for strictly regulating (the) prices of essential goods, which makes the country extremely competitive in the global economy.

The prices is better because of the of. I would leave prices in the plural since the goods don't all have the same price. A comma is naturally needed after goods because the entire main clause is the antecedent of the relative clause.

Re: correction 2

New2grammar — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:52:39 GMT

Amy and I left for the mall at 7 to get James a birthday cake. It was his 35th birthday. At the bakery shop, we had a hard time choosing from a wide selection of cakes. When I agreed to pick up a cake, I had thought it was a 20 minute (Is it missing an S?I was told not to use the plural when it functions as an adjective, a five minute break) job including the travel time, tops.

There were blueberry cake with chocolate truffle filling, vanilla iced;[Must I use a comma?I thought semicolon helped to avoid confusion in a list that contains commas (in this case, there's a comma between filling and vanilla iced) tiramisu with chocolate shavings, key lime torte dipped in truffle chocolate, just to name a few. After 20 minutes of dilemma, we bought the key lime torte because I loved keylimes (Must I use the plural? I would like to say I love keylime flavor, can't I use the singular?). One the way home, we got involved in a traffic accident. We weren't injured but the cake wasn't that lucky.

Thanks MM for pointing out my mistakes. However, I still can't figure out what's wrong with some of them.

Re: Grammar doubts

Clive — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:06:47 GMT

Hi,

(1) This seems to be a perennial problem, that we cannot live without bloodshed, without going after our enemies.

Comma usage, please check. OK

(2) But the basic drive is to get food and to get the mating available. And it is in this ~~here~~ that Jainas perceive what kinds of passions are working.

Can "And it is in this here" be rephrased fro clarity? Please rephrase.

Some people say you shouldn't start a sentence with 'but', or with 'and'. Why not join the two sentences, with a comma?

'To get the mating available' is also a clumsy expression. Say it another way. Actually, it all sounds a bit awkward. Was it written by a non-native speaker?

(3) And it is in this way that Jainism began, with a large group of mendicants who decided, who left the household life, left all the activities, subsisted on the least possible, amount needed for food and water and shelter, and led a very frugal life, sustained by the laypeople who were able to support them.

Do we need comma before amount? Please advise. No. Remove it.

(4) But nowadays these are asked and they must perforce find answers to that.

Is the usage "perforce find" ok? Please check. Yes. It's a literary kind of phrase. Is the singular 'that' intended to refer to the plural 'these'?

(5) This is the tale of an elephant who, in his very next rebirth, was reborn as Prince Mega and become an eminent Jaina monk under Mahavira. And Mahavira is telling the past story of this particular man:

become or became? Please advise Became.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: help with grammar doubts

Clive — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:53:11 GMT

Hi,

(1) This might seem a strange title, but I want to begin---since I was asked to speak about disagreements of religion after September 11^th---begin with a truth that anxiety itself is not against religious attachment.

Please check usage of two "begins" one before emdash and one after emdash.

Repetition like this is a common rhetorical device in speeches. So, if you are 'speaking this', it would be OK. But don't write it this way.

(2) And Persia, Iran, where I come from, lost practically half its population and some 20, 30 million people were killed in this invasion.

Can 20, 30 million be changed to twenty to thirty million? Please clarify. Yes, if you want to. Just be consistent, ie handle all similar numbers ina similar way.

In speaking, "some 20, 30 million people" is OK. But in writing, say "some 20 or 30 million people".

(3) And I will say at the outset that I do not believe that the September 11 events has had a deep effect upon Hinduism and Buddhism and Sikhism and Neo-Confucianism and Taoism and Shintoism and the other great religions of Asia, nor the primal religions of Australian aborigines or Africans or the Native Americans.

Can the sentence be edited like (bold are edits)? You need to say 'have', since 'events' is plural.

And I will say at the outset that I do not believe that the September 11 events have had a deep effect upon Hinduism and Buddhism, and Sikhism and Neo-Confucianism, and Taoism and Shintoism, and the other great religions of Asia, nor the primal religions of Australian aborigines or Africans or the Native Americans.

(4) This statement of mine is based on what the <i>Manchester Guardian</i> and other Western newspapers have written, not on some conjecture by some Muslim extremist. Over 100,000 people, ~~who~~ have perished as a result of that act. So one evil act has resulted in another evil act, but the second evil act is hardly ever spoken about, because it is not seen as an evil act.

Should it be "who have" or "have"? Please check. 'Have'. And remove the preceding comma, of course.

Best wishes, Clive

correct this please

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:26:16 GMT

Hi,

Please correct this. Is the comma before 'ready' OK?

Hi, I hope you all had very relaxing holidays and are back in your work places, ready to work on new assignments... Our thanks go (goes??) to John Doe for his remarkable work on making sure every sector of our company works to its potential.

Does 'thanks' go with a plural verb or singular verb?

Re: To have plural for that and related to 'etc.'

Yoong Liat — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:13:49 GMT

HuaMin Chen

It's fine with the plural below, isn't it? And usually we used 'etc.' but if we further have one more full stop there, should we then have 2 full stops?

Or we can simply close the form without disposing the objects, like forms, buttons, textfields ~~and~~ etc..

Another full stop is not needed. The following sentences are for your information.

We talked about contract, pay, etc. (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

a shop selling paper, pens, typewriters, etc. (Times-Chambers Essential English Dictionary)

Or we can simply close the form without disposing the objects, like forms, buttons, textfields, ~~and~~ etc..

The word and is not needed and there should be a comma after text fields. By the way, I cannot find textfield spelt as one word. Did you type the word wrongly?

How to determine the subject here?

Awence — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:42:12 GMT

I heard that the coach, as well as the players, is going to travel to the city next Friday.

My head said with comma, the subject above is coach whereas without comma, a plural verb is valid. I somewhat agree but with doubts and wonder why it is so. Mind giving me some explanation on this matter? WIll appreciate if you have other examples.

Re: Heart and Hearts

Avangi — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:11:03 GMT

"hearts and minds" is a very popular fixed idiom these days re discussions of strategy in Iraq, and uses plurals in that case.

Darcy's example implies that the American people may have a common soul, assuming the singular was used deliberately.

The plurals of all three would refer to all the individual hearts/minds/souls of all the people. The singulars would refer to the one mind (figurative), heart, and soul which all the people share.

I think your question <1> should set off the four words in question, either with quotes or italics. Opinions may differ on whether the comma should be a semi-colon or a dash.

(Sorry, this isn't very well focused on your questions.)

Re: clear my doubt

Clive — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:46:42 GMT

Hi,

Last year, the Lead India intiative dusted off 6 decades of indifference to take its first determined steps.

Steps that would travel a road lined with cynical litter and well-meaning discouragement <<< This is a phrase rather than a sentence, because it has no main verb. I would attach it to the first sentence by replacing the period with a comma.

ie . . . its first determined steps, (steps) that would travel . . .

Steps that would travel

According to me it should be step as it is mentioned its first determined...kindly tell me what is correct usage

_________________________________

You can say 'Today my baby took his first step' meaning one step

or 'Today my baby took his first steps' meaning the first few step.

In other words, you can say it either way, depending on what you mean. In your example, I prefer the plural, particularly in view of the second phrase because you need more than one step in order to travel a road.

Best wishes, Clive