http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aPunctuation+tag%3aParagraphs+tag%3aClausesSearch results for 'tag:Punctuation tag:Paragraphs tag:Clauses' matching tags 'Punctuation', 'Paragraphs', and 'Clauses'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3273.32735)http://www.englishforums.com/English/ExamQuestionsWannaCheckReplied-Correctly/vzkmb/post.htmMon, 07 May 2007 21:46:04 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:361744anonymous1 Explain the functional and structural properties of similarly and state another connector functioning like similarly by using it in two sentences 2 Write three example sentences in which subjunctive verbs are used as noun complements 3 Rewite the reduced clauses below to correct the participle errors Ex After having been bitten by mosquitoes the ointment felt soothing to her skin After having been bitten by mosquitoes she rubbed a soothing ointment onto her skin a The hurricane terrified people being driven from their homes b The canned fruits and jams helped the family survive having prepared for the winter 4 Put the punctuation marks where appropriate in the paragraph below Similarly Phillipson 1992 adds that at the present time English to a much greater extent than any other language is the language in which the fate of most of the world s millions is decided p 6 Burchfield 1985 also acknowledge the lingua franca role of English and argues that even a literate person may experience linguistic deficit and deprivation that is lack of opportunities in language learning As this view suggests language deficiency is a significant condition yet not a commonly identified one END Thanks a lot for your help http://www.englishforums.com/English/ExamQuestionsWannaCheckReplied-Correctly/vzklp/post.htmMon, 07 May 2007 21:42:05 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:361741anonymous1 Explain the functional and structural properties of similarly and state another connector functioning like similarly by using it in two sentences 2 Write three example sentences in which subjunctive verbs are used as noun complements 3 Rewite the reduced clauses below to correct the participle errors Ex After having been bitten by mosquitoes the ointment felt soothing to her skin After having been bitten by mosquitoes she rubbed a soothing oinment onto her skin a The hurricane terrified people being driven from their homes b The canned fruits and jams helped the family survive having prepared for the winter 4 Put the punctuation marks where appropriate in the paragraph below Similarly Phillipson 1992 adds that at the present time English to a much greater extent than any other language is the language in which the fate of most of the world s millions is decided p 6 Burchfield 1985 also acknowledge the lingua franca role of English and argues that even a literate person may experience linguistic deficit and deprivation that is lack of opportunities in language learning As this view suggests language deficiency is a significant condition yet not a commonly identified one END Thanks a lot for your help http://www.englishforums.com/English/DashesCausingProblemsSolving/2/cvqbx/Post.htm#191349Wed, 01 Feb 2006 09:04:00 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:191349cloncForgive me but what do you mean by a dash All the examples here show two hyphens These are not dashes There are three types of dashes namely Hyphens Em Dashes and En Dashes The hyphen is the shortest of the three and is used most commonly to combine words compounds such as well being and advanced level for example On typewriter and computer keyboards the hyphen appears on the bottom half of the key located on the top row between the 0 and the equals mark The em dash The em dash is the mark of punctuation most of us think of when we hear the term dash in regard to a sentence It is significantly longer than the hyphen We use the em dash to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence Dashes can be used in pairs like parentheses that is to enclose a word or a phrase or a clause or they can be used alone to detach one end of a sentence from the main body Dashes are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex or in one that has a number of commas within it When we confuse the em dash with the hyphen we make a sentence virtually impossible to read Notice the sentence containing dashes in the preceding paragraph If a hyphen is used in place of each dash it would seem as though we had hyphenated two pairs of words in the sentence parentheses that and clause or neither pair of which makes any sense The en dash The en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash It is in fact the width of a typesetter s letter N whereas the em dash is the width of the letter M thus their names The en dash means quite simply through We use it most commonly to indicate inclusive dates and numbers July 9 August 17 pp 37 59 Many people were not even aware of the distinction between the en dash and the em dash until the advent of word processors when software programs enabled us to use marks of punctuation that once had been available only to professional printers Typing the En Dash and Em Dash Our typewriter and computer keyboards lack individual keys that display either of the dashes The symbol above the hyphen is an underline not a dash Before word processing we had to type an em dash by typing two hyphens Now many word processing software programs will automatically turn those two hyphens into an em dash if we correctly leave NO space before or after them We can also choose en and em dashes from a menu of symbols that do not appear on the keyboard In Microsoft Word for example we can pull down the Insert window click on Symbol and go to the normal text window The en and em dashes appear on the bottom row In any software program that handles text the em dash can be typed on an enhanced keyboard as Alt 0151 that is hold down the alternate key and type using the numerical pad on the right side of the keyboard the numbers 0151 The en dash can be typed as Alt 0150 TEST YOURSELF Can you spot any errors in the use of the hyphen the en dash or the em dash in the following sentences 1 The instructions were written on pages 33 47 2 The conference will be held June 30 July 2 in New York 3 Juan had tried begging bribing and even demanding cooperation from his staff all of whom were swamped with other work before he gave up and wrote the report himself 4 No one not even the president of the company realized the company would have to declare itself bankrupt so quickly ANSWERS 1 The instructions were written on pages 33 47 Use an en dash not a hyphen to indicate inclusive page numbers 2 The conference will be held June 30 July 2 in New York Use an en dash not a hyphen to indicate inclusive dates Do not space before or after dashes 3 Juan tried begging bribing and even demanding cooperation from his staff all of whom were swamped with other work before he gave up and wrote the report himself Use em dashes not hyphens to indicate a break in thought 4 No one not even the president of the company realized the company would have to declare itself bankrupt so quickly Use em dashes not hyphens to show a break in thought Do not space before or after dashes http://www.englishforums.com/English/LongParagraph/cbmxl/post.htm#175672Wed, 28 Dec 2005 19:22:10 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:175672davkettI may not be your best reader but I find a problem with the first and second references here In the first sentence of the first paragraph you mention two objections the first of which you appear to immediately address The last sentence of the first paragraph mentions two facts which appear to be addressed separately in the next two paragraphs These two paragraphs appear to be related to the first objection In the next paragraph the second objection is defined then addressed in the paragraph that follows Maybe the two paragraphs detailing the two facts could be indented Or there could be a better delineation of first objection second objection first fact of the first objection and second fact of the first objection Have I read the sequence properly Also I suggest the following punctuation change because your semi colon is not followed by an independent clause if adopted profound changes in a person s thoughts feelings and actions changes that at first glance seem to be beneficial http://www.englishforums.com/English/PunctuationQuestion/bljmh/post.htmWed, 21 Sep 2005 22:07:35 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:140376anonymousThis sentence below is part of a Florida statute and is taken exactly as punctuated Some read the word except as applying to the entire sentence meaning the first part of the sentence is read a beneficiary is entitled to a trust accounting except as provided under paragraph c I argue that there is no comma after the word trustee therefore the word except only applies to the part of the sentence that begins or upon chage of the trustee except as provided in paragraph c meaning upon change of a trustee paragraph c applies If the clause except as provided under paragraph c applied to the beginning of the sentence shouldn t there be a comma after trustee 4 a A beneficiary is entitled to a trust accounting as set forth in s 737 3035 annually and upon termination of the trust or upon change of the trustee except as provided under paragraph c And in c below where it says the trustee s duties under this section it is referring to the section 733 707 3 that it lists in the first part of the sentence Some argue that when it says the trustee s duties under this section it is referring back to the sentence or section numbered 4 a above I think that is ridiculous There is no reference to section 4 a in the sentence I argue that it is referring back to itself and can be read in and of itself c In the case of a trust described in s 733 707 3 during the grantor s lifetime the trustee s duties under this section extend only to the grantor or the legal representative of the grantor I am not a lawyer nor a punctuation expert but I am dealing with a trust dispute in which the trustee does not want to account for my grandmothers estate I believe that the lawyers are interpreting this statute incorrectly Here is the entire statute below and links to the webpage below it Thank you for any help The 2005 Florida Statutes Title XLIIESTATES AND TRUSTS Chapter 737TRUST ADMINISTRATION View Entire Chapter 737 303 Duty to inform and account to beneficiaries The trustee shall keep the beneficiaries of the trust reasonably informed of the trust and its administration The trustee s duty to inform and account includes but is not limited to the following 1 Within 30 days after acceptance of the trust the trustee shall inform the beneficiaries in writing of the acceptance of the trust and the full name and address of the trustee 2 Upon reasonable request the trustee shall provide a beneficiary with a complete copy of the trust instrument including amendments 3 Upon reasonable request the trustee shall provide a beneficiary with relevant information about the assets of the trust and the particulars relating to administration 4 a A beneficiary is entitled to a trust accounting as set forth in s 737 3035 annually and upon termination of the trust or upon change of the trustee except as provided under paragraph c b For purposes of this section the term beneficiary means 1 All current income or principal beneficiaries whether discretionary or mandatory and 2 All reasonably ascertainable remainder beneficiaries who would take if all income interests immediately terminated c In the case of a trust described in s 733 707 3 during the grantor s lifetime the trustee s duties under this section extend only to the grantor or the legal representative of the grantor d A beneficiary or the beneficiary s representative as defined in s 731 303 may waive in writing the trustee s duty to account under paragraph a e All rights provided a beneficiary under this section may be asserted by a legal representative or natural guardian of the beneficiary Notice under subsection 1 and a trust accounting under paragraph a provided to a representative of the beneficiary as defined in s 731 303 shall bind the beneficiary and the trustee shall not be required to provide such notice or trust accounting to any beneficiary who would be bound by an order binding on a representative of the beneficiary under s 731 303 if such notice or trust accounting respectively is provided to that representative 5 This section applies to trust accountings rendered for accounting periods beginning on or after January 1 2003 History s 1 ch 74 106 s 6 ch 75 221 s 5 ch 77 344 s 12 ch 95 401 s 6 ch 97 240 s 4 ch 2000 245 s 10 ch 2002 82 s 26 ch 2003 154 http www flsenate gov statutes index cfm App_mode Display_Statute amp Search_String amp URL Ch0737 SEC303 HTM amp Title gt 2005 gt Ch0737 gt Section 20303 0737 303http://www.englishforums.com/English/PunctuationWithinQuotes/bgbwz/post.htm#113429Wed, 29 Jun 2005 00:14:57 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:113429rvwTo me the rules regarding punctuation around quotation marks are not always logical To remember them I extracted the following from Webster s Third New International Dictionary 13 1 Direct quotations When I am dead said one of the keenest minds lay a sword on my coffin 13 2 In long quotations left hand marks are placed at the beginning of every paragraph as well as at the end of the selection 13 3 Quotation marks are usually not used when the quoted matter is set in smaller type or in paragraphs indented on both sides 13 4 Single quotation marks enclose a quotation within a quotation The witness said I heard him say Don t be late then I heard the door close 13 5 Quotation marks enclose titles of short poems paintings lectures articles and parts or chapters of books Titles of whole books periodicals and newspapers are usually italicized in context 13 5 1 In American usage printers usually place a period or comma inside closing quotation marks whether it belongs logically to the quoted matter or to the whole sentence or context But when a logical or exact distinction is desired in specialized work in which clarity is more important than usual as in this dictionary a period or comma can be placed outside quotation marks when it belongs not in the quoted matter but to a larger unit containing the quoted matter The package is labeled Handle with Care 13 5 2 Only one other mark accompanies closing quotation marks whether the quotation and the whole sentence or context call for the same mark or for different marks We shouted Where do you think you re going Why did you bellow Get out of here 13 5 3 A colon or semicolon is usually placed outside of quotation marks Fame is proof that people are gullible with this quotation he retired in silence 13 5 4 A colon or semicolon is sometimes placed inside the quotation marks when it belongs inseparably to the quotation However a terminal colon or semicolon of quoted matter incorporated in a sentence usually gives place to appropriate end punctuation Sirs is a salutation 13 5 5 A question mark or exclamation point is usually placed inside or outside the quotation marks according to whether it belongs to the quoted matter or to the whole sentence or clause that includes the quotation Can you forget his angry exit after he shouted Include me out And what do you think of this new novel his friend asked 13 6 Quotation marks often single quotation marks sometimes enclose technical terms unfamiliar to the reader words used in an unusual sense and coined word trade or shop jargon or slang for which the writer implies a slight apology An em is a unit of measure used in printing He is goofy according to their lingo Strangeness is a property of elementary particles http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhichOneIsTheRightChoice/hhlmh/post.htm#622428Fri, 04 Mar 2005 19:54:28 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:622428einde. ocallaghan <einde. ocallaghan@planet-interkom.de> nq 2 Dear Membes i would like to know which one of was specified for each institute was distributed according to that nq nq 1 The first paragraph is better in my opinion but mathematically I don t think there s such a thing as a total average I would just write according to the average number of students And I d drop the first comma in the paragraph nq And the second the relative clause doesn t require delimitation using commas because its an identifying relative clauese i e an essential part of the sentence REgardes Einde O Callaghanhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/DashUseage/kddl/post.htm#50059Tue, 12 Oct 2004 14:08:32 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:50059mister micawberSorry to be so long but I have been looking for a good comprehensive internet source on dashes all the information seems to be in bits and pieces and some of it is quite contradictory Here is a good excerpt however from the Get it Write website A number of you have written to ask us to explain the difference between the hyphen the em dash and the en dash Distinguishing among the Three The hyphen is the shortest of the three and is used most commonly to combine words compounds such as well being and advanced level for example and to separate numbers that are not inclusive phone numbers and Social Security numbers for example On typewriter and computer keyboards the hyphen appears on the bottom half of the key located on the top row between the 0 and the equals mark In many instances correct hyphenation can be a complicated issue We have addressed it partly in an earlier tip go to the tip archive on this Web site and find the tip on hyphenated adjectives and we will discuss it in greater detail in a future tip Today however our focus is on the two kinds of dashes Remember though that when using the hyphen the en dash or the em dash you should put no space either before or after them The only exception is with a hanging hyphen see for example the word nineteenth in the phrase nineteenth and twentieth century literature By definition a hanging hyphen will have a space after it but not before it The em dash is the mark of punctuation most of us think of when we hear the term dash in regard to a sentence It is significantly longer than the hyphen We use the em dash to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence Dashes can be used in pairs like parentheses that is to enclose a word or a phrase or a clause or they can be used alone to detach one end of a sentence from the main body Dashes are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex or in one that has a number of commas within it When we confuse the em dash with the hyphen we make a sentence virtually impossible to read Notice the sentence containing dashes in the preceding paragraph If we had used a hyphen in place of each dash it would seem as though we had hyphenated two pairs of words in the sentence parentheses that and clause or neither pair of which makes any sense The en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash It is in fact the width of a typesetter s letter N whereas the em dash is the width of the letter M thus their names The en dash means quite simply through We use it most commonly to indicate inclusive dates and numbers July 9 August 17 pp 37 59 Many people were not even aware of the distinction between the en dash and the em dash until the advent of word processors when software programs enabled us to use marks of punctuation that once had been available only to professional printers For other points I shall fall back on my own opinions Basically use a dash in a range when you haven t time or space or layout for the words and don t be inconsistent That s why from A Z looks bad Lays between 2 and 4 eggs must be used because the dash means through not and If you want to be clearer for a larger range add inclusive B grades for this test are 72 87 inclusive or from 72 to 87 inclusive Between 2 and 4 eggs would mean 2 3 or 4 merely because it would be silly for it to mean 3 when you could just write 3 For the dates which are open to more interpretations you would have to specify the exceptions of course but for instance various seminars could be held between October 8 and 11 meaning on the 8th 9th and 11th No as Get it Write says there is no space before or after except in the case of the hanging hyphen I personally however leave a space after m dashes because I like the look and the sense better Hope this helps http://www.englishforums.com/English/CommaUsage/3/hvdnv/Post.htm#605391Tue, 24 Feb 2004 23:34:27 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:605391usenet nq 2 All I can say is that I m influenced by the the m dash for the sentence as rewritten by Michael above nq nq 1 But isn t everything in a sentence related by thought nq Well yeah but the dash for the sentence we were discussing really served to tie together what could have easily been two entirely separate sentences Maybe I m not communicating very well nq 2 I am no punctuation expert with regard to AmE and feels right to me Fortunately I don t write for publication nq nq 1 Style gurus British and American agree that a parenthetical clause can be set inside parentheses or inside a pair of interjected material one of my style guides ascribes violence to pairs of dashes bespeaking a rather delicate consititution I think nq This case though was not about a parenthetical clause nq 1 By the way you can stop referring to m dashes in this regard because the length of the dash is a typesetting issue rather than a usage issue Dashes long or short are dashes but they are not hyphens nq I scrolled up to my previous paragraph and took care of that You are right of course Skitt in Hayward California www geocities com opus731 http://www.englishforums.com/English/ThePunctuationFaq/vkwn/post.htmTue, 17 Feb 2004 20:56:49 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:22691rommieThe incomplete Punctuation FAQ Hopefully this will grow in time as other questions are asked and answered and other people add to this Hopefully some kind moderator or adminstrator will mark this thread as sticky INTRODUCTION In grammar the rules are forged in a delicate balance between history and culture History defines the formal rules culture defines the usage rules and most of the English speaking world resides somewhere between the two You can make a new usage rule merely by inventing it and using it but the only way to make a new formal rule is wait for a very long time these rules do change but they change slowly Punctuation rules on the other hand change much much faster These rules are set by publishers newspapers and so on and so can vary from publisher to publisher let alone from country to country For example the Sunday Times prints the home secretary wheras the Times prints the Home Secretary Who is right Well there are the people who effectively set the rules so perhaps the question is moot I am personally inclined to the view that punctuation doesn t matter much largely because of the reasons stated above but also because punctuation is an artifact of writing Our language had beauty structure and the logic of real grammar long before anyone ever dreamed of writing it down However punctuation rules do exist in practice and people keep asking for them so these really ARE frequently asked questions so here goes with what I ve been able to look up The sources for this information are the Oxford Language Reference British and the Harbrace College Handbook Ninth Edition American Both are accepted reference standards Rommie TRUE GRAY AREAS These can t really be called rules because disagreement exists among the rulemakers These are the areas in which you must make up your own mind CAPITALIZATION The fixed rules are that sentences and proper nouns are must be capitalized Beyond that you pretty much have to decide for yourself Some people think that words derived from proper nouns should be captialized like Boolean or Pasteurized boolean or pasteurized others disagree arguing that there is no such thing as a proper adjective Some people think that abbreviations which are pronouncable should be treated as ordinary vocabulary words and therefore lowercased others disagree ufo Nato etc versus UFO NATO etc The capitalization of book and film titles is a total free for all You can capitalize pretty much any word you want RULES COMMON TO BOTH BRITAIN AND AMERICA APOSTROPHE S In general plurals are formed with an s no apostrophe and possessive case is formed with an s apostrophe s However there are exceptions to this rule as follows 1 The pronoun its possessive case of it requires no apostrophe The entirely separate word it s is short for it is 2 It is CORRECT to write My name contains two m s with an apostrophe basically because without it the sentence wouldn t read correctly BRACKETS Round brackets enclose a relatively unimportant piece of information Square brackets enclose an explanation by someone other than the author speaker of the surrounding text Punctuation marks that refer only to the parenthetical material go inside the parentheses Punctuation marks that refer to non parenthetical material go outside HOW TO SEPARATE CLAUSES A comma is used to separate the main clauses of a compound sentence and to separate words and phrases which do not belong together A comma is not powerful enough to completely separate clauses on its own however you need a conjunction as well A semicolon unites clauses which are of similar importance and closely related A colon separates clauses when there is a step forward for instance from introduction to main point It is also used to introduce a list Sentences and even paragraphs may end in colon QUOTES If a quotation contains the end of a sentence and would normally require a period but is not itself the end of a sentence use a comma instead of a full stop Question marks and exclamation marks go within quotes if they refer to the quoted material only place them outside when they apply to the whole sentence You are supposed to use a comma before quotes like this He said hello In practice this is often dropped if the quoted material is not at least one whole clause RULES UNIQUE TO BRITAIN QUOTED MATERIAL Quoted material is enclosed in single quote marks like this Alternate quote marks when nesting as in he said she said they said I said hello In Britain the following is correct Observe the placement of the first comma This would be incorrect in America That he said is nonsense The comma goes outside the closing quote IF the contatenated quote wouldn t contain it In other words he said That is nonsense not That is nonsense In Britain actual quotations extracts from literary works etc should be quoted exactly including punctionation so if there was no comma in the original there should also be no comma in the copy If the sentence demands one it must go outside the quotes RULES UNIQUE TO AMERICA QUOTED MATERIAL Quoted material is enclosed in double quote marks like this Alternate quote marks when nesting as in he said she said they said I said hello Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks Colons and semicolons go outside the quotation marks