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

Re: Grammar doubts!!!

Clive — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:58:11 GMT

Hi,

(1) Four or five months before he left Quiet Riot, Randy brought pictures and petitioned custom guitar maker Grover Jackson to make him an instrument.

Is punctuation or word missing between the bold words? Please advise.

(2) Impressed with Santanaâs talent, Graham took the band under his wing and began booking them as support to the many big name acts that played at his venue, the Fillmore West auditorium. This turn of events offered/displayed/suggested some degree of irony.

The second part of sentence is not clear. Please rephrase for clarity of thought.

(3) The volume and power of the Pirates led the Detours to pursue new equipment. Unfortunately, they were broke. Daltry actually made the initial guitars for the band, and the band made their speaker cabinets.

Is the gramamr "they were broke" ok? Please clarify. It's correct grammar, but the whole phrase is informal. 'Were broke' is slang for 'had no money'.

(4) He was also the first important guitarist to be a significant composer as well. His ability to combine salient lyrical work with blistering guitar playing had, up to the time he showed up on the London scene, been non-existent.

Should it be combined? Please check.

(5) The events led to another search for a front man. This time they turned by up Gary Cherone, formerly of hugely popular Boston band Extreme.

'They turned up Gary' is slang for 'they found Gary'.

Is the grammar (bolded) ok in the above sentence?

(6) In the late 1960s, the first wave of blues rock and British blues, powered through the States, but had long ago run its course. Stevie Ray rekindled that genre by channeling Hendrix, playing loud, and charging his guitar solos with rock and roll fury. Just as the blues had been on the brink of extinction, Stevie Ray to the rescue.

Should it be came to the rescue? Yes

(7) Jimmie was the early pride of the family. He'd shown the ability to hear a tune and pick it up quickly on guitar. Martha and father Jim didn’t pay all that much attention to Stevie, though Stevie was paying close attention to what Jimmie was doing. She did see though, when the Vaughans tucked their boys in at night, they were both sleeping with their guitars.

Though.. seems to be imcomplete sentence. Kindly rephrase.

(8) Authorities arrested Shannon and one of the conditions of his probation was to cease employment with Krackerjack. Case closed. Stevie didnât get arrested, but he did delve deeply into drugs from that point on.

Is the grammar didn't arrested correct? Please advise.

(9) Backstage after the set, the band devastated, they ended up meeting two musicians that would take that disappointment in turn it into triumph: David Bowie and Jackson Browne.

Should it be and turn it into? Yes

Clive

Grammar doubts!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:41:55 GMT

(1) Four or five months before he left Quiet Riot, Randy brought pictures petitioned custom guitar maker Grover Jackson to make him an instrument.

Is punctuation or word missing between the bold words? Please advise.

(2) Impressed with Santanaâs talent, Graham took the band under his wing and began booking them as support to the many big name acts that played at his venue, the Fillmore West auditorium. This turn of events some degree of irony.

The second part of sentence is not clear. Please rephrase for clarity of thought.

Is the gramamr "they were broke" ok? Please clarify.

(4) He was also the first important guitarist to be a significant composer as well. His ability combine salient lyrical work with blistering guitar playing had, up to the time he showed up on the London scene, been non-existent.

Should it be combined? Please check.

(5) The events led to another search for a front man. This time they turned by Gary Cherone, formerly of hugely popular Boston band Extreme.

Should it be came to the rescue?

(7) Jimmie was the early pride of the family. He'd shown the ability to hear a tune and pick it up quickly on guitar. Martha and father Jim didn’t pay all that much attention to Stevie. Though Stevie was paying close attention to what Jimmie was doing. She did see though, when the Vaughans tucked their boys in at night, they were both sleeping with their guitars.

Though.. seems to be imcomplete sentence. Kindly rephrase.

(8) Authorities arrested Shannon and one of the conditions of his probation was to cease employment with Krackerjack. Case closed. Stevie didnât arrested, but he did delve deeply into drugs from that point on.

Re: Known setence patterns used in combinations

CalifJim — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:20:46 GMT

Anonymous
"He likes to discover different ways to express himself through writing, but, when he comes a cross a vague and indefinite grammar rule, he would often be discouraged."

Remove the comma. Don't separate but from a subordinate time clause that follows.

Anonymous
"Americans realized that, with the defeat of Napoleon in Europe, the British would no longer have much incentive to interfere with American commerce."

Keep the comma. The two commas together act as parentheses so that the reader can see that Americans realized that the British would ...

The alternative is to remove both commas.

(Sometimes style manuals disagree about matters of punctuation.)

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.

quick question

kalaris — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:58:38 GMT

"And so it necessarily follows that we can never be sure of what the government has in store in terms of technical advancement and prowess."

Any commas required? Appreciate any help that is offered.

Re: Punctuation( strong and weak ones )

Yoong Liat — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:23:52 GMT

bhikkhu1991
Hello,

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language states that the semicolon and colon are stronger than the comma. For example, if the former is placed on the right side of the sentence, the later will be placed on the left side of the sentence. However, why does the following sentence is not complying with the method?

My grandmother has stayed up late four nights in a row; as a result, she cannot seem to get well. ( http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/indep_clauses.htm )

The reason is that as a result, she cannot seem to get well is, in fact, a separate sentence separated by the semi-colon..

Punctuation( strong and weak ones )

bhikkhu1991 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:29:00 GMT

Hello,

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language states that the semicolon and colon are stronger than the comma. For example, if the former is placed on the right side of the sentence, the later will be placed on the left side of the sentence. However, why does the following sentence is not complying with the method?

My grandmother has stayed up late four nights in a row; as a result, she cannot seem to get well. ( http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/indep_clauses.htm )

Thank you.

With best wishes.

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

Punctuation rules (parentheses)

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:57:33 GMT

Hi all,

How would you interpret the sentence below and would you accept the alternative interpretation from the student?

âStudents are allowed to bring into the examination ONEA4 piece of paper with up to 39 formulae (no text) written on one side of it, with the equations sequentially numbered. â

The typical student response is to create a sheet of paper with 39 formulas and sequentially numbered.

(I am asking you to take this with a pinch of salt as you read on.)

Now letâs take for example a student applies the rules of punctuation for the parentheses ( ).

The Oxford- A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation^[1] describes the parenthesis as;

âWhen something is put âin parenthesisâ it is separated off from the main part of the sentence by a pair of brackets, commas, or dashes. This is usually because it contains information or ideas that are not essential to an understanding of the sentence.â

And The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language^[2] describes the parentheses as;

âIn their primary use parentheses occur in pairs and enclose what we call a parenthesised element.¹⁵ Their function is to present that element as extraneous to a minimal interpretation of the text, as inessential material that can be omitted without affecting the well-formedness and without any serious loss of information.¹⁶ [...]â

1. In reading the sentence and taking into account the punctuation rule.

2. On the first reading, can the student, choose to first omit the â(no text)â and or at the same time, as an aside, relegate the â(no text)â as âsupplementary materialâ forming the sentence,

âStudents are allowed to bring into the examination ONEA4 piece of paper with up to 39 formulae written on one side of it, with the equations sequentially numbered. â

Which forms a logical sentence on its own and takes it as the first ârequirementâ of the sentence.

The student reads â(no text)â as supplementary material, not as a clarifying statement. Is this acceptable or even correct? BTW is âno textâ considered a sentence itself?

Also note there is no conjunction between the words â39 formulaeâ and the words â(no text)â, the student takes the conjunction âwithâ as in âwith up to 39...or with no text...â

3. On the second reading, he replaces the â(no text)â back into the sentence to form

âStudents are allowed to bring into the examination ONEA4 piece of paper with no text written on one side of it, with the equations sequentially numbered. â

Which also forms a logically sentence on its own and takes it as the second ârequirementâ of the sentence.

In essence the student produces a sheet of paper with 39 formulas, sequentially numbered and with text on one side of the paper.

Questions are, or your views;

Is the application of the punctuation rule correct?
Should the â(no text)â be structured into a sentence to be classified as a clarification?
Can the studentâs interpretation be accepted?
A better way of writing the sentence?
Or should the sentence be using the colon for clarification?
Any other views.

Re: correction required in grammer

Grammar Geek — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:16:02 GMT

Hi mrkhan, and welcome to English Forums.

Aside from any other grammar issues, remember to start sentences with a capital letter and use end punctuation.

"Never has it happened" is okay, but not a common way to start. It certainly is emphatic. I'd suggest "Never before has..."

I'm not sure what you mean to say in the rest of the sentence though. Never before has the system been ...??

Can you try to say "closed to the nature" another way? Your meaning isn't clear.

Thanks,