Shayler - talk in Brixton - Wed. 2nd Nov.
- Thread starter TeeJay
- Start date
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
It's all not done with mirrorseditor said:
FifthFromFront
New Member
editor said:
Besides, wouldn't British and American rather than American and British read better?
Just a thought
FFF
editor said:
That comma is optional. Firstly the trend in writing these days is to cut out unnecessary punctuation.
Secondly one of the two reasons for using commas is for the writer to guide the reader. And i didn't want any pause where you have inserted a comma. It reads better without the pause.
[and in any case, you know full well that with the advent of email and message boards that capital letters have become optional. That's why i referred you to genre earlier, or text type if you wish.]
Don't start telling me about ancient rules you were taught at school. But i might have known you'd be a prescriptive grammarian, whereas i belong to the descriptive school.
Now then: it's 'resign from'; and furthermore you missed out a necessary comma after the word 'apologise'.
So, soon as you wake up mate, chuck an apology over my way. There's a good chap!
FifthFromFront said:Besides, wouldn't British and American rather than American and British read better?
Just a thought
FFF
It's a good thought, but when i wrote it i put american first coz i have more american students than british ones. Well, in fact it's four and one.
Amazing how much extra meaning there is in words if one looks for it...
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Like hell they have.fela fan said:
No, "hell" doesn't need a capital letter.
TeeJay said:
you've been pondering a long time mate... did anything come to mind?!
I'll have a look at the links you gave me (for some reason i didn't see that post before), and see if i can oblige.
Where is he talking in brixton? I mean, how many people will be going to see him?
Editor, it's your town, are you going?? I'd reckon there'd be more fun in going to see someone whose politics/opinions i didn't like rather than someone i perceive to talk sense.
editor said:
But, you've not grasped the fundamental concept of the metaphorical mirror of which i occasionally refer to on this site.
Much as i'd love to project myself there, kind of in a beam-me-up-scotty way, no-one's yet invented a way of being in two places in one time. If i could just sort of step over to britain for pints and chats with mates and then step back here, that'd be the best technology ever.
But if you go to see him, then i can rely upon your report of what he had to say.
You tell me you're a journalist, go there man and tell all us punters what it was all about. And keep teejay happy by rerailing his thread.
FridgeMagnet said:
Maybe you're a similar age to me then fridge. I'm just keeping myself young in mind by 'speaking' the same language as the young uns.
Plus i'm lazy wherever i can be.
Are you a prescriptive or descriptiver grammarian mate?
And some food for thought: writer... text... reader. It is the writer's job to use text to communicate to his/her intended reader/s the message they wish to convey. Every possible tool at their disposal should and can be used to get their exact meaning across. Interestingly on this medium of communication the benefits and disadvantages that normally separate writing from speaking are often combined.
So words like hell and heaven and god and so on could have a capital, or not, depending on what ideaa the writer's wanting to convey.
Anyway, i've just started work, so sorry for going on about it all, but i'm work mode, hence all this dribble i'm writing. oh well.
gurrier said:
Not just wrong, but embarrassingly wrong eh?
You'd better explain yourself there man, coz otherwise you might have to attach those words of yours to a boomerang and watch them fly right back to your own mouth (keyboard if you wanna be pedantic).
It would appear they belong to you.
In lists, 'and' is used in place of a comma.fela fan said:
According to this page:
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/comma.htm
It is permissible to use a comma in addition to the conjunction, but I believe that is North American sloppiness and that the correct usage is without the extraneous comma.
Whatever. One way you're wrong, the other way you're twice as wrong.
Getting into a grammar willy-waving war and making such elementary mistakes is a tad embarrassing, wouldn't you say?
gurrier said:
It could be, but i don't really care about it. In any case i didn't start it, but it's actually enjoyable for me. And you're now involved in it too.
Embarrassing for you, enjoyable for me. There we go, look some differences between human beings!
Anyway, to show you why more and more writers are using that comma before the 'and' when listing:
Flavours of ice-cream available are strawberry, chocolate, pineapple, and vanilla.
Flavours of ice-cream available are strawberry, chocolate, pineapple and vanilla.
Which sentence do you prefer then mate? How many flavours available in each of them?
I've just checked my Gregg Reference Manual (6th edition, 1987) which insists there should be a comma before the 'and', or 'or', or 'nor', when writing lists.
"Study the rules for the use of the comma, the semicolon, and the colon."
It is american, but we've needed them to rid our own version of english of a lot of its stuffiness.
Anyway, back to shaylor in a minute teejay!
"Study the rules for the use of the comma, the semicolon, and the colon."
It is american, but we've needed them to rid our own version of english of a lot of its stuffiness.
Anyway, back to shaylor in a minute teejay!
Gawd, this is the funniest thread.
It's difficult not to feel a little sorry for Fela's students though. Not only have they got the TEFL upstart's ego to contend with, they're also getting some severely shaky and inconsistent grammar training. One second our Fela's confidently talking about the modern desire to reduce unnecessary punctuation, the next he's pointing towards a restrictive (near 20 year old) US guide to justify putting in a clumsy and unnecessary comma in. Can't beat the clarity or consistency for the students or readers there eh. Even worse, they're probably being taught how to speak like the 'young uns' by the ever in-touch Fela, man.
Here's a tip btw Fela, US publications and academic work (particularly in terms of the style guides for national printed media) tend to be more fusty, over-traditional and 'stuffy' in grammar terms than UK ones, not the other way around. Check out the New York Times against the Guardian for example.
Still, at least it means that Shayler's perhaps not the only widely discredited laughing stock on this thread. Giggle of the morning and a nice connection all around.
It's difficult not to feel a little sorry for Fela's students though. Not only have they got the TEFL upstart's ego to contend with, they're also getting some severely shaky and inconsistent grammar training. One second our Fela's confidently talking about the modern desire to reduce unnecessary punctuation, the next he's pointing towards a restrictive (near 20 year old) US guide to justify putting in a clumsy and unnecessary comma in. Can't beat the clarity or consistency for the students or readers there eh. Even worse, they're probably being taught how to speak like the 'young uns' by the ever in-touch Fela, man.
Here's a tip btw Fela, US publications and academic work (particularly in terms of the style guides for national printed media) tend to be more fusty, over-traditional and 'stuffy' in grammar terms than UK ones, not the other way around. Check out the New York Times against the Guardian for example.
Still, at least it means that Shayler's perhaps not the only widely discredited laughing stock on this thread. Giggle of the morning and a nice connection all around.
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