Author Topic: Words and Grammar and Stuff  (Read 126278 times)

Clovis8

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #800 on: December 01, 2011, 02:47:54 PM »
The real joy of going abroad to teach English will be explaining why a language exists where this is a valid question:

"How did you fare in finding a fair fare to get to the store to buy fair fair fare?"

One pronunciation, two spellings, six definitions.

I don't get the meaning of the last fair. As in fair hair?

Bondo

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #801 on: December 01, 2011, 03:20:08 PM »
Fair as in carnival.

¡Keith!

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #802 on: December 01, 2011, 03:24:51 PM »
The real joy of going abroad to teach English will be explaining why a language exists where this is a valid question:

"How did you fare in finding a fair fare to get to the store to buy fair fair fare?"

One pronunciation, two spellings, six definitions.

or explaining this:



and thanks Em! Got a report from a colleagues in Switzerland (should've said Swiss as opposed to German) and they had spaces after the slashes... it seemed... odd.

Emiliana

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #803 on: December 01, 2011, 03:35:22 PM »
and thanks Em! Got a report from a colleagues in Switzerland (should've said Swiss as opposed to German) and they had spaces after the slashes... it seemed... odd.

Ah, that might explain it. The Swiss are an odd bunch.  (Or they might actually have completely different conventions regarding these kinds of things than we do ;))

saltine

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #804 on: January 22, 2012, 12:38:49 AM »
Fun with grammar, or maybe not. 

This guy wrote a bot to find one phrase in Twitter posts which is commonly misspelled.  Once he identifies the wrong-doer, he sends them a little note.  The responses indicate that the note is less than well-received.

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verbALs

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #805 on: February 15, 2012, 01:13:35 AM »
Punctuation
Identifying poor use of punctuation will feel like an excessively nit-picking thing to do. However, the lack, or misuse of commas especially, can make some people's writing extremely difficult to read. Torturous, in fact. Constructing complex sentences goes with the territory here. Either you use short sentences, where the point is difficult to expand upon, or you venture out into verbose territory. If you don't break up your sentences, in order to emphasise certain phrases, then the whole logic of the sentence is lost. They also provide a rhythm and pacing to sentences, that make the process of reading them back, much more entertaining.

This isn't a case of bitching, or letting pedantry get in the way. This is about whether the basic meaning of writing is being properly communicated. Putting together a long review is a time-consuming process. Why handicap your work with poor punctuation? Why limit the number of people prepared to battle your prose style, to get meaning from your reviews? It isn't the easiest thing to do well, and this is a reminder to myself, as much as anybody else.

A good tune played with voice and acoustic guitar is still a good tune. It becomes a great tune when it goes electric, adds a backing rhythm guitar, and then lays in a beat, on drums and bass guitar. Punctuation serves the same basic function.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2012, 01:27:36 AM by verbALs »
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smirnoff

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #806 on: February 15, 2012, 11:54:08 AM »
My understanding of punctuation is foggy at best. I go through what I've written to make sure it reads ok, but it's pretty much impossible to see your own writing with fresh eyes so this practice is probably worthless. I should make an effort to understand the rules of punctuation better.

Who's the best on the forum? I'll just pay particular attention to what they do and emulate it.

Antares

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #807 on: February 15, 2012, 11:58:34 AM »
When I was in school way, way back in the old days, grammar was my worst subject. The nuns would drill it into me, so now I'm very aware of when I make a mistake. My only problem today is that I still tend to use run on sentences.
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verbALs

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #808 on: February 15, 2012, 12:03:57 PM »
My understanding of punctuation is foggy at best. I go through what I've written to make sure it reads ok, but it's pretty much impossible to see your own writing with fresh eyes so this practice is probably worthless. I should make an effort to understand the rules of punctuation better.

Who's the best on the forum? I'll just pay particular attention to what they do and emulate it.
I'm not marking it (because what do I know?). As a rule of thumb, the bold bit is just too long. I disagree you can't reread your own writing with fresh eyes. It's more likely that you just don't want to, or can't be bothered. If you feel like that, then why would anyone else feel differently reading it? Of course, you short-circuit that process by doing all-picture reviews. You sly (salty sea-) dog!
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

Antares

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Re: Words and Grammar and Stuff
« Reply #809 on: February 15, 2012, 12:05:49 PM »
My understanding of punctuation is foggy at best. I go through what I've written to make sure it reads ok, but it's pretty much impossible to see your own writing with fresh eyes so this practice is probably worthless. I should make an effort to understand the rules of punctuation better.

Who's the best on the forum? I'll just pay particular attention to what they do and emulate it.
I'm not marking it (because what do I know?). As a rule of thumb, the bold bit is just too long. I disagree you can't reread your own writing with fresh eyes. It's more likely that you just don't want to, or can't be bothered. If you feel like that, then why would anyone else feel differently reading it? Of course, you short-circuit that process by doing all-picture reviews. You sly (salty sea-) dog!

It's not that it's too long, but rather it needs a comma after eyes.
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