Grammer - puncturation - riting. Disgusting...

edited February 2017 in General Chatter
Separated out from the US election thread.

Spelling mistake on his official poster... ;doh

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Comments

  • edited February 2017
    ;lol

    It's like they do it on purpose, to bring a little ;biggrin into our otherwise humdrum lives.
  • Mrs Grey and they used the correct spelling in the line above...

    Maybe that's why he doesn't like the Muslim Immigrants, their English is better....
  • edited February 2017
    Is it really real?

    Did nobody pick up that mistake, at all, throughout the process?

    (Also, the comma is incorrectly used. ;lol )
  • MrsGrey, I thought grammatical and spelling errors were not to be pointed out on this forum. ;biggrin
    Btw, is the comma really incorrect? Genuine question.
  • edited February 2017
    Only our own errors are sacrosanct, NEold, only our own.

    ;biggrin

    Yes, its wrong. They have taken 2 sentences (or main clauses as they are also in this case) and joined them into a single sentence. But to do that, you can't use a comma. (As I frequently wail to my students while banging my head on the table, ' commas aren't sticky ;weep ). To be correct, they needed to either keep it as 2 sentences, use a joiny word (that's a technical term but only teachers are allowed to use it ;biggrin ) or use a semi-colon.

    If I'd designed it, I'd have kept it as 2 sentences has a better rhetorical flourish that way, imho.
  • Two sentences has a greater impact but an 'and' would have sufficed or maybe change it to 'or challenge too great".
  • Don't mention the commas. ;run
  • edited February 2017
    ;lol

    I love a comma, me ;wahoo ;carew
  • edited February 2017
    thorn

    Your proposed changes follow the option of introducing a coordinating conjunction between two main clauses.

    What they did is an example of comma splicing, which is a punctuation no-no.

    Herb

    Oops. Sorry!
  • edited February 2017

    Two sentences has a greater impact but an 'and' would have sufficed or maybe change it to 'or challenge too great".

    ;hmm

    I'd have gone with a 'nor' rather tthan 'or', to keep the 'is' and thus the symmetry/rhythm of the sentence.
  • Too laaaaaaaaaaaaaate. ;lol
  • This discussion just made me count the commas and semi-colons in the article I'm working on. I have no idea why ;doh
  • So? How many then?
  • edited February 2017
    22 commas and two semi-colons out of 540 words. Are they in the right place? I don't know.

    There's also a colon inside a quotation.
  • Send it to Mrs G to comma check.
  • Only if she'll write the next 1,000 words.
  • ;biggrin

    Commas are my second-favourite punctuation mark.
  • edited February 2017

    Only if she'll write the next 1,000 words.

    ;nonono

    I'm semi-retired, you know!

    I'll proofread copy edit it for you though. ;biggrin
  • I left school over 50 years ago but improper grammar still bugs me. I expect shortly he's going to use 'of' instead of 'have' (which 80% of people seem to) and less instead of fewer.
  • thorn

    Regardless of our personal preferences/bugbears, what is considered acceptable grammar changes over time, dependent on usage.

    'Should of' is more of a spelling mistake than a grammar one, imo, and I suspect less and fewer will be interchangeable before too long.
  • Warning, a tangent is about to start !!

    What amazes me is how handwriting techniques have seen such a decline in our education system.

    following the 2006 SAT exams (a post secondary education entrance exam) here in the US, it was reported by the Washington Post that no more than 15% of pupils offered up their essay answers in cursive.

    The Common Core State Standards was thus rolled out in 2009 and adopted by 44 states, these standards do not include instruction in cursive. Since 2011, here in Illinois at least, cursive is not considered a core component and education facilities are no longer required to offer schooling.

    Why on earth not, what is the possible harm in teaching people how to write in an efficient and legible manner, unless of course you are training to be a doctor ;wink
  • chicago

    But surely print (upper or lowercase) is just as legible?

    Tho only advantage to cursive I can see is speed, and with the proliferation of electronic communication it may be that cursive writing is no longer a particularly useful skill.
  • edited February 2017
    Chicago, I don't think many people ever actually handwrite after they've left school.
  • thorn, I'm with you on 'fewer'.

    It's a personal bugbear. ;ok
  • I get that keyboard skills are probably more pertinent nowadays, but I still get a personal sense of satisfaction when I write, or receive, a note that has been neatly written in cursive.

    I also believe that there is value in appreciating such a note with a compliement to the writer.

    Now go away and be quiet as I wish to go back to reading the paper and then listen to the archers on the radio.

    ;wink
  • It's and its were such a common mistake for me.

    I wouldn't mind a pound for each time I had to write

    "It's a poor dog that never has its day".

    I bet kids these days would have no idea what it is to write "lines" as a punishment or learning aid. It finally stuck, and I rarely get it wrong these days.
  • Buffy you shouldn't have said that. You know what this lot on here are like they'll be scrutinising everything you write now.


  • buffy - the problem is that 'its' contradicts everything one learns about how to use the possessive apostrophe.
  • A subject I love!

    MrsGrey - I'm guessing your first is the interrobang‽

    MrGrey - Could have / could've switched to 'could of' is the grammar error which really grates my soul. One of my favoured posters on this site makes this one regularly and I get irrationally irritated with it. I punish by occasionally withholding my 'agrees' even when I want to agree because I am a pathetic, pitiable child.

    I also know how hypocritical I am, as often my own writing is greatly lacking. My biggest failure generally is overly long sentences. I tend to write off the cuff and without review, then I later read it and notice how disjointed it all is! I'm also a shocker for incorrect usage of colons, semi-colons, brackets, and dashes. I'm trying to improve by writing more regularly, but I often get too excited while furiously typing/scrawling away.
  • Buffy you shouldn't have said that. You know what this lot on here are like they'll be scrutinising everything you write now.

    thorn

    I guess (or at least, hope) that was a joke but

    a) I don't think people would

    and

    b) it would make no difference

    We don't allow comments about the spelling, grammar or punctuation of another user.

    Very occasionally, a comment about an obvious typo/predictive text correction is OK, but SPG is off limits.
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