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

Sentence construction with comma usage

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:41:32 GMT

Guys,

Does this sentence sound OK?

Visitors can check out the modern and contemporary jazz, along side toe-tapping to the rhythms of old favourites.

And also please advise on the punctuation.

Thanks,

Vijay

Re: whenever and when

Mr Wordy — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:34:21 GMT

You changed the tense. Did you mean to?

If you meant "When you are ready, I am waiting for your answer." then, yes, it's very similar in meaning to "Whenever you are ready, I'm waiting for your answer.", and the two are often interchangeable. "Whenever" has slightly more of a sense of "any time at all". To me, though, this sentence isn't punctuated correctly. As written, to me it means "At the future time at which you are ready, I am waiting for your answer", which has mixed-up tenses. It only makes sense if "When you are ready" is used in the conversational sense of "You go ahead and do it when you're ready". One punctuation possibility is therefore "When you're ready! I'm waiting for your answer."

"When you are ready, I will be waiting for your answer." can be interpreted in two ways. The first is "When you're ready! I'll be waiting for your answer..." which is slightly unusual (the present tense, "I'm waiting", is more natural). The second is "At the future time at which you are ready, I will be waiting for your answer", which sounds not unreasonable, but is IMO also a slightly unusual thing to say. Something like "When you arrive, I'll be waiting for you." is, in my view, a better sentence with which to illustrate this construction.

Re: sentence construction

Clive — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:00:47 GMT

Hi,

It is only when democracy and human rights are combined together to govern that society can move towards peace.

Is the sentence construction ok or do we need some punctuation? I have highlighted the portion which is not clear in meaning. Please advise.

It seems fine to me the way it is. The meaning is clear.

You could omit the word 'together', but perhaps you prefer to leave it in order to add some emphasis.

Best wishes, Clive

sentence construction

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:42:09 GMT

It is only when democracy and human rights are combined together to govern that society can move towards peace.

Is the sentence construction ok or do we need some punctuation? I have highlighted the portion which is not clear in meaning. Please advise.

Re: Please check my cover letter! Help me not to loose my golden chance!!

Feebs11 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:34:14 GMT

Anonymous
Hi I'm a native speaker of English, working as ateacher in Poland. I was born in Cambridge and lived there for 32 years. I have since moved to Poland. I just checked your covering letter and it seemed to be ok. I may suggest that there are a few problems with punctuation and also some mistakes with your sentence construction ie: "This course is the best I could ever find " does not make sense, it would be more appropriate to write This course is or was the best that I could find. I can Help you if you require some more help, but Iam a teacher and I cannot give alot of time.
Adrian

A bit late, I am afraid. The original post was nearly a year ago

Re: Please check my cover letter! Help me not to loose my golden chance!!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:46:54 GMT

Hi I'm a native speaker of English, working as ateacher in Poland. I was born in Cambridge and lived there for 32 years. I have since moved to Poland. I just checked your covering letter and it seemed to be ok. I may suggest that there are a few problems with punctuation and also some mistakes with your sentence construction ie: "This course is the best I could ever find " does not make sense, it would be more appropriate to write This course is or was the best that I could find. I can Help you if you require some more help, but Iam a teacher and I cannot give alot of time.

Adrian

Re: can you tell me who is he / who he is

CalifJim — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:01:54 GMT

Should't I say "Can you tell me who he is?" ?

Yes, you should.

However, if you make a pause when speaking (shown by the comma), you might say

Can you tell me, who is he?

The preferred punctuation (shown below) correctly shows this construction as two sentences:

Can you tell me? Who is he?

In my estimation, this second version is by far less used, and I would stick to Can you tell me who he is?

CJ

(Unknown 22884)OHHH I FINALLY CAN POST!!!

Jen001 — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:51:40 GMT

"The Change of the Characteristics in the passage from The Hours"

The passage from the novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham is intriguing. The passage illustrates the difference between the character's characteristics in different time settings: past and present. This difference is clearly shown through the contrasting structure, imagery and language.

The structure reflects the division of the time setting and helps to contrast the different characteristics. The passage has two paragraphs, each describing the character's thoughts and perception about a same place, of the past and present. The length of each paragraph is different; the one from the past is much longer than the other one from the present. This can be related to each of the paragraph's sentence construction. In the first paragraph, about the past, the lengths of the sentences are very long. The first sentence takes eight lines, lengthened continuously within commas, semi-colons and colons. In fact, in one sentence, there are five commas, five semi-colons and a colon. This overly-continued sentence gives a sense of unfiltered, informal, and unrestricted flowing of thoughts. Moreover, the use of brackets, âsome sort of wood(cedar? Camphor?),â seems to be less sophisticated, compared to using dashes or other punctuations of the same function. However, in the second paragraph of the present, the sentence construction is shown contrastingly. The paragraph starts with a short simple sentence: âShe turns down Bleecker, goes up Thomson.â Also, in this paragraph, there are four sentences in six lines, and three of the four sentences are written in simple sentence, including the example above. Although there are a few commas in some of the sentences, there is no semi-colon, but only a colon in the last sentence. The colon is used in a very appropriate way, functioning to introduce the list of âthingsâ, such as âjewelryâ and âjackets.â Thus, within the brief and concise sentence construction, the character in the present appears to be more mature, filtered and sophisticated than in the past. However, as a result of that, the sense of youthful, unfiltered freedom cannot be found anymore in the present.

In addition to the structure, the contrasting imagery of each paragraph demonstrates further differences of the characteristic in the past and present. As both paragraphs are of the same setting, the image of the same place is described at each time. So, the consistent place makes the comparison between the two more distinctive and reliable. The imagery of the place is very vivid in the past, not only within the visual sense, but also within the auditory and olfactory senses, whereas that of the past only relies on the sense of sight. For example, in the past, âthe neighborhoodâ is depicted as âthe center of something new and wildâ in âthe city where the sound of guitars drifted all nightâ and âwhere the stores â¦ smelled the way â¦ Arab bazaars must smell.â This is detail, imaginative and lively, even the âArab bazaarsâ creates a somewhat mystical and adventurous atmosphere. This interesting and passionate depiction is being minimized in the present into three words: an âimitation of itself.â It is now âa watered-down carnival for tourists,â which gives a sense of inactivity and boredom. Also, the stores now âall sell essentially the same things,â such as âsouvenir T-shirts.â This seems to be dull, with no excitement or creativity or passion. This changed imagery, depicted by the character, rather shows the change in the character's perception. The change in perception is demonstrated more clearly within the notion of the âdoorâ and âalley.â In the past, she says, âif you passed through the wrong door or down the wrong alley you would meet a fate,â however, in the present, she âknows that behind these doors, and down these alleys lies nothing more or less than people living their lives.â In the past, she seems to be more concerned with the 'inner' world of thought or imagination. Whereas in the present, she seems to be more grounded in the external world of physical reality. As like the previously discussed change in the sentence structure, she is now more sophisticated, knowledgeable and realistic than the past. Also, as like the image of the place, her perception changed from the creative, interesting and adventurous to the boring, predictable and filtered way. Thus, the contrasting imagery of the past and present reflects the similar change in the character's perception.

While the structure and the imagery convey the distinctive change in the characteristics of the character, the contrasting use of language supports those differences. More specifically, the diction [dash]shown in the past and the present[dash] is comparable. Reflecting the imagery of the varied senses, the words and expressions used in the past are also varied and animated, such as âincense and richâ and âdung-y dustâ describing the smell of the stores. These two expressions, âincense and richâ and âdung-y dustâ are contrasting; they express the diversity of the object. Moreover, the speaker creates a non-existing adjective, âdung-y.â The extra adding of â-yâ grants a more animated image, and it gives a sense of freedom and even somewhat childishness. The âsmellâ is then described as âsomething fruitily, fertilely rotting.â Again, she creates a non-existing adverb, âfruitily,â expressing the scent rather vividly, which would be sour as it ârots.â The other adverb âfertilelyâ contributes to create a sense of abundance and richness of the imagery. However, the use of those two positive adverbs, modifying the negative verb ârottingâ seems to be oxymoron in âfruit[full]â or âfertile,â as well as the use of adjective âdisreputable,â following ânew and wild.â The oxymoron adds an unpredictable sense to the imagery and hence to the depicter's thoughts. On the other hand, in the present, the adjectives used to describe the âcityâ and the âstores,â are ânothing,â âless,â âsame,â and âstill.â All of them are negative and reflect the boredom, dullness and hopelessness. More significantly, the speaker uses the adverb, âGrotesquelyâ before describing how âthe same bars and coffeehouses are still [th]ereâ, showing the character's cynical characteristic. So does the use of the adjective âcheapâ for the goods at the stores. Thus, in the past, the character uses language interestingly [dash] it is diverse, lively and creative [dash] whereas that of the past is inactive, hopeless and cynical. These differences are directly reflecting the character's contrasting, changed characteristic.

The change of the characteristic seems to be abrupt. As a cause, something would have happened to her, that is not shown in the passage. However, an assumption can be drawn within the evidences from the passage. There is a shift in the first paragraph within âHere,â showing the shifted tense from the past to the past perfect. In the past perfect, there is a scene of Clarissa, the major character, and her boyfriend Richard. She seems to appreciate Richard a lot, for example, she does not use the pronoun 'he' for âRichard,â even though he is the only male character. So, in a sentence, Richard is successively repeated three times, âwith Richard, when Richard â¦ when Richard.â Moreover, she describes his appearance in detail; he âwas nineteen,â âa firm-featured, hard-eyed, not-quite-beautiful dark-haired boy with an impossibly long and graceful, very pale neck.â So, to describe Richard, she combines an adjective and a noun to create a single adjective, such as âhard-eyed.â This shows her seriousness about describing him precisely. His âimpossibly longâ and âvery paleâ neck would seem negative, if not for the complementary adjective âgraceful.â Also, the adverb âimpossiblyâ gives a sense of special and unusual feeling for the person. Besides the use of language, the use of punctuation should also be noted. There are many commas, causing the sentences to seem choppy. This would be imitating the feeling of uncertainty and the tension in the situation. The uncertainty of the situation is shown in the line, ââ¦about what? A kiss? Had Richard kissed her, or had she, Clarissaâ¦,â also the tension created as they âhad certainly argued.â Then, the reason for the âargu[ment]â is explained: âClarissa wanted her freedom and Richard wanted, well, too much.â It is notable that as Richard âwanted â¦ too muchâ relating to the âkiss,â the pronoun 'he' is used as âdidn't he always?â In this case, however, the pronoun 'he' seems to more likely indicate every 'man', rather than particularly âRichard.â Thereafter the paragraph ends, and the paragraph of the present starts. It is not sure whether the abrupt change in Clarissa's characteristic is due to âRichardâ or not. Although it is not, it is evident that Clarissa once considered and cared about him quite specially.

Despite of the uncertain reason, the change in the Clarissa's characteristic from the past to the present is shown clearly throughout the contrasting structure, imagery and language. The characteristic includes the thoughts and perception, which were unrestricted, unfiltered, creative and animated in the past; whereas in the present, they are shown restricted, filtered, dull and inactive. The change is extreme, but no particular evidence for the extremity is being suggested, except the short scene with Richard. Thus, this passage not only introduces the setting and the character, but also evokes the reader's curiosity: What has happened to Clarissa?

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I really really really appreciate for your help... Thank you..!

Re: : vs. ?

Hoa Thai — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:05:00 GMT

Clive wrote:
Hi,

Very generally speaking, the expression 'How about these?' in writing often seems infelicitous and imprecise.

Clive

Hello Clive,

Thank to you, I've just learned a new word, infelicitous!

If you don't mind, may I pose a few more questions to you?

Question #1: The phrase 'very generally speaking' of yours tells me that the expression 'How about these?' has very little use in writing. So could you kindly show me a few cases when its use is not infelicitous and not imprecise?

For me, the few instances I use that expression are:
a) when I want to follow another question with a final question as an after thought; for instance: Do you think this word is acceptable ....? How about these (list of words) ? Of course, this pattern caused me to ask the original question (i.e., the placing of the question mark when a bulleted list is involved);

b) when I want to embed a suggestion in a question mode. I like to use a question tone more than a direct suggestion tone, not because I lack confidence, but because I feel that suggestion tone is rather pompous when the suggested item(s) is/are not factual and more on the imaginary / abstract side (beauty is in the eye of the beholder). From what you shared with me, in the future I will try to rephrase it in different way such as "Would you like to consider one of these alternatives:"

Question #2: What do you think of the italicized and underlined construction in part a) ? Is there a better alternative? (Perhaps, I should not write anything as an after thought, but I guess for forum exchange it is tolerable).

With special thanks,
Hoa Thai
P.S. By the way, could you kindly suggest anything I could / should change in this writing to make it better (grammar, punctuation, word choice, semantics, etc...)

Kindly check the essay

Redalert — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:45:44 GMT

THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN OUR SOCIETY

Human beings are social animals who live together and by their nature canât isolate themselves in the place where they dwell which is called society. The society whose inhabitants we are is of two types: the rural society and the urban society.

By gender, a human being can either be a male or a female. Male are more stronger, energetic and dominating. Females are weak physically, less dynamic and can be overwhelmed. Both men and women lead their lives together in the society where they live.

The rural society of our country has unfortunately always underestimated women in all walks of life. They are being subjugated. On account of their physical weakness women are abhorred, detested, the other reason is the lack of education in the rural society of our country where men feel pride of their masculinity and canât tolerate women moving with them; let alone the idea of encouraging moving ahead than them. To keep women under their firm control; men use all the uncivilized mean to pressurize women, torture them and if ever a woman musters up the guts to speak of against such unethical behavior they are abused and sometimes killed. The story does not end here; in order to solve a dispute girls of opponent sides are exchanged, raped and sometimes girls are coerced to get married with an aging man.

The urban society no doubt, gives good treatment to the fair sex. Women are not mistreated on the basis of their sex, rather they are encouraged to move forward with men. This is because of the face that the inhabitants of the urban society are educated and can understand the importance of women. Women in the urban society are encouraged to make the most of all the avenues to impart themselves with education and adopt a career of their own choice. Men in this part of society now prefers marrying an educated girl to uneducated ones because the former one can understand the mental horizon of mean and in times of need can help him in supporting his family by working; supplementing him enough money to lead a quality life and help their children growing up without facing any financial hardships.

Dear Grammarians,

Thank you very much for taking the pain to read this essay. I have been asked to write an essay of 350 on this topic. However, I was unable to be precise enough in writing down upto the required number of words for which I was being told.

As English is not my mother tongue. But I am enthusiastic in learning this language.
I have got few queries to ask:
â¢After reading this essay, how would you find my grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and sentence construction ability?
â¢What rating would you give to the text?
â¢How can I ameliorate my weak points?