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"Grammar" and "Punctuation" nit's unite! You're "head" will literally explode!

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Page 114 of 247

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14 64 94 104 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 124 134 164 214

Last

12-31-2011 , 12:33 AM

#2826

prohornblower

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Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 38,283

Home Cheapo sign is incredible. Any time someone who earns $8 an hour is forced to make a sign you can guarantee it will be full of fail.

It's like she thinks the word is "didint" because that's how it sounds, so she's putting in the apostrophe in lieu of the second "i".

I'm pretty sure I've posted this one before but I saw it again last night. There is a store nearby called "ooh's and aah's". Maybe the owners are named Ooh and Aah, but then you'd think they would have capitalized them.

I wonder if the sign went up and they had the Boogie Nights "ahhh issa Q! Issa Q!" reaction.

Quote

12-31-2011 , 02:45 PM

#2827

AlligatorBloodFTW

banned

Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,425

When addressing someone whose name is properly not capitalized such as prohornblower do you capitalize their name when it starts a sentence?

prohornblower, do you?

or

Prohornblower, do you?

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12-31-2011 , 05:30 PM

#2828

ToTheInternet

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Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 13,876

If you wanted to be formal, yes.

Quote:

Capitalize the first word of a sentence even if the word standing alone would be an exception to the rule to capitalize proper nouns, such as eBay <EBay reported higher earnings Tuesday>.

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12-31-2011 , 06:08 PM

#2829

atakdog

addicted

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

That's a good one. I encounter it with atakpup, and with myself, frequently, and I'm probably guilty of getting it wrong a good portion of those times.

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01-04-2012 , 07:31 PM

#2830

MikeyObviously

veteran

Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 3,266

I had never heard of this before...saw it on Reddit:

Double Contractions

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01-04-2012 , 09:38 PM

#2831

baumer

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 4,061

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeyObviously

I had never heard of this before...saw it on Reddit:

Double Contractions

bo's'n - Contraction of boatswain (a warrant or petty officer on board a naval ship.)

lol

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01-04-2012 , 10:30 PM

#2832

Dominic

Tripod

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 75,378

Quote:

Originally Posted by RussellinToronto

Profession journalists also nod.

An article in today's Toronto Globe and Mail, dateline Washington, about Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup says that there are

(It generally wasn't a great day for the Globe and Mail. Elsewhere their TV columnist recommended the 2011 mini-series "Downtown Abbey.")

???

Downtown Abbey is superb.

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01-04-2012 , 10:58 PM

#2833

lastcardcharlie

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Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 10,727

When you're quoting the title of something, like a book or a film, is there a rule about which words should be capitalized?

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01-04-2012 , 11:01 PM

#2834

||.||.||

Gifmeister

Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 14,058

Quote:

Originally Posted by RussellinToronto

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominic

???

Downtown Abbey is superb.

Downton Abbey

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01-04-2012 , 11:12 PM

#2835

||.||.||

Gifmeister

Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 14,058

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastcardcharlie

When you're quoting the title of something, like a book or a film, is there a rule about which words should be capitalized?

Quote:

Capitalization of Titles

There are several contexts in which we can examine capitalization. When writing a title (of a blog post, for example), almost all of the words in the title are capitalized. This is called title case.

Title case is used for titles of books, articles, songs, albums, television shows, magazines, movies… you get the idea.

Capitalization isn’t normally applied to every word in a title. Smaller words, such as a, an, and the are not capitalized. Some writers use a capitalization rule for only those words longer than three letters. Others stretch it to four.

There’s no fixed grammar rule for which words aren’t capitalized in a title, although they tend to be the smaller and more insignificant words; you should check your style guide for specific guidelines.

●

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01-04-2012 , 11:25 PM

#2836

ToTheInternet

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Quote:

Smaller words, such as a, an, and the are not capitalized. Some writers use a capitalization rule for only those words longer than three letters. Others stretch it to four.

To this, I'd add that these "smaller words" should be parts of speech such as articles and conjunctions and prepositions, not nouns and verbs and adjectives, etc.

So Cat and the Dog would be fine, but not cat and the dog or Cat and the dog.

Also, I'd capitalize the first word even if it is one of these "smaller words," for example, The Cat and the Dog.

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01-05-2012 , 01:16 AM

#2837

jimi1999uk

old hand

Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,893

How do I dominate the comma. I swear to god, it confuses all **** out of me. Most instances I'm fine with. Other times I'm clueless. As in "ok, I should be taking a breath here, so I should put in a comma". Before I think "scatch that, that phrase is super obvious. Don't be throwing your commas around willy-nilly man!"

I should really know this as I'm doing English Literature and Language at uni eeeeeekkkk

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01-05-2012 , 02:20 AM

#2838

ToTheInternet

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 13,876

Purdue OWL on comma usage

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01-05-2012 , 04:43 AM

#2839

Dominic

Tripod

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 75,378

Commas should be used when separating two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction; or, when when following a dependent clause with an independent clause.

Examples:

Bob entered the classroom, and he took his seat.
When Bob entered the classroom, he took his seat.

If you follow an independent clause with a dependent clause, notice there is no comma:

Bob took his seat when he entered the classroom.

Also, the old rule of thumb about pausing or taking a breath giving you the place where the comma goes is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Don't use it.

Last edited by Dominic; 01-05-2012 at 04:51 AM.

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01-05-2012 , 04:48 AM

#2840

Dominic

Tripod

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 75,378

And a quick semi-colon rule:

Mostly use them when separating two independent clauses without the use of a coordinating conjunction:

Bob entered the classroom; he took his seat.

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01-05-2012 , 03:58 PM

#2841

RussellinToronto

veteran

Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 2,243

I can't resist adding that in including a term of address in a statment commas are traditionally used. E.g.,

"Come here, Bill."
"Dear, would you move?"
"I say, old man, that's capital!"

I say "traditionally" because it has become a universal convention to drop this comma in what is now the standard way of beginning an email:

"Hi Jane," (and not the more strictly correct "Hi, Jane,").

Perhaps this omission has come about by analogy with what was the traditional salutation in opening a letter (which did not require that comma): "Dear Jane,"?

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01-07-2012 , 10:28 AM

#2842

stinkypete

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Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 15,785

Regardless of the reasoning for it, "Hi, Jane," is just more awkward stylistically than "Hi Jane,". Using anything but the latter deserves a smack in the face imo.

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01-07-2012 , 04:22 PM

#2843

Suicidal King

stranger

Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 11

"Dominate" in place of dominant or even dominative is something I've seen a lot of.

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01-07-2012 , 06:43 PM

#2844

AlligatorBloodFTW

banned

Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,425

Love is a verb.

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01-07-2012 , 08:32 PM

#2845

atakdog

addicted

Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 50,136

Quote:

Originally Posted by stinkypete

Regardless of the reasoning for it, "Hi, Jane," is just more awkward stylistically than "Hi Jane,". Using anything but the latter deserves a smack in the face imo.

Sorry - that you consider following a long-established rule to be "awkward stylistically" does not elevate if to smack in the face material. Maybe it's better to follow the modern trend, but following an established rule that is still observed by many (hai der) is never egregiously wrong.

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01-07-2012 , 10:34 PM

#2846

W0X0F

sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight

Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 5,853

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlligatorBloodFTW

Love is a verb.

...and a noun.

But I don't understand why you are pointing out something so obvious (and not nitty) itt.

Quote

01-07-2012 , 10:36 PM

#2847

AlligatorBloodFTW

banned

Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 6,425

To inspire you to realize love's most important part of speech and TO love, ldo.

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01-08-2012 , 12:13 AM

#2848

jimi1999uk

old hand

Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1,893

I feel love.

Love is a gerund surely? Noun and verb properties and a nouny/verby word class?

I can't believe I'm drunk and posting this lol. fml

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01-08-2012 , 12:33 AM

#2849

blankoblanco

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Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 8,395

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dominic

And a quick semi-colon rule:

Mostly use them when separating two independent clauses without the use of a coordinating conjunction:

Bob entered the classroom; he took his seat.

while i guess this is technically grammatically correct (i think??), this would be a pretty bad example. nearly anything you can do with those two thoughts is better than using a semi-colon. frankly it's awful. the statements are related, but when the relation is a simple sequence of events, i can't see any purpose to its usage. typically the part after the semi-colon adds some sort of explanation or elaboration upon the part before