Grammer / Spelling

[Nottseagull]

I quite agree. I'd actually changed a sentence I'd originally written, but completely failed to read it back, in my haste to click on reply, and carry on chatting with my sister-in-law elsewhere! I do humbly apologise.

No apology is necessary for that, however I will instead accept it for misspelling my name

...NottsSeagull found me out!

 

[Nottseagull]

No it hasn't. A comma is a legitimate way to separate clauses and aid clarity.

Of course it is but it is not legitimate to place them where they obstruct clarity. Thus, when I read It would have been impossible to start learning Latin at the age of 11, without a solid grounding in the basics of language. I had to reread it because it would only have scanned with another comma after "language". E.g. It would have been impossible to start learning Latin at the age of 11, without a solid grounding in the basics of language, because English is derived partly from Latin. Even that sentence is clumsy; had I been asked to proof read it, I would have placed the middle clause in brackets and dispensed with the commas altogether.

 

[Nottseagull]

How do you feel about replacing commas with dashes? I'll re-work my original sentence, to emphasise that I was 11 years old when I started learning Latin: It would have been impossible to start learning Latin - at the age of 11 - without a solid grounding in the basics of language.

My original intention was, however, not that; it was to emphasise the importance of having a solid grounding in the basics of language - hence the placing of a comma after "11". I fear being fixtured, though, since the opportunity to use commas to create different nuances is what looney and HovaGirl have been arguing about.

Now I get you! I see exactly what you were trying to convey, but this was obscured by the fact that you omitted to put a comma after Latin. Thus
It would have been impossible to start learning Latin, at the age of 11, without a solid grounding in the basics of language.
would have been fine IMHO.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Now I get you! I see exactly what you were trying to convey, but this was obscured by the fact that you omitted to put a comma after Latin. Thus It would have been impossible to start learning Latin, at the age of 11, without a solid grounding in the basics of language. would have been fine IMHO.

That's a fair cop, guv. Two commas would have worked; one comma didn't - at least for you.

We probably need to delve deeper into the theoretical works of Chomsky and his followers to take forward this discussion about how particular sentence structures aid or hinder clarity, but it's far too late into the night for that.

 

[cloud]

Good grief. We'll be onto the Oxford comma next.

 

[looney]

Eugenics has credibility because of threads like this.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Eugenics has credibility because of threads like this.

Not with that blue outfit she wore to William and Kate's wedding. Terrible threads!!!

 

[Seagull27]

This thread just goes to show that even the pedants and so-called experts get it wrong on occasion. An internet forum is unlikely to contain perfect grammar and spelling, as many people prefer to type in a more colloquial manner. The speed with which many type, often fraught with emotion and excitement, inevitably leads to typos and errors. As long as one can obtain the meaning of the post, does it really matter? Some people are not blessed with the same level of English education as others, whilst others struggle with problems such as dyslexia, but we are all Brighton fans and everyone's views should be equal.

There may well be numerous spelling and grammatical errors within this post. I do not care.

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

You started the thread. This is an internet fail on scales hitherto only even dreamt about (well, probably not) so you deserve hideous amounts of ridicule for trying to be pedantic, and making yourself look silly. As this is how the inrternet works.

Typo intentionally left in

Spot on.

 

[HovaGirl]

This thread just goes to show that even the pedants and so-called experts get it wrong on occasion. An internet forum is unlikely to contain perfect grammar and spelling, as many people prefer to type in a more colloquial manner. The speed with which many type, often fraught with emotion and excitement, inevitably leads to typos and errors. As long as one can obtain the meaning of the post, does it really matter? Some people are not blessed with the same level of English education as others, whilst others struggle with problems such as dyslexia, but we are all Brighton fans and everyone's views should be equal.

There may well be numerous spelling and grammatical errors within this post. I do not care.

Absolutely. This was a thread just ripe for proof-reading and, indeed, for making one's own errors. I don't read other threads with a view to correcting everything. I just read what people have to say, regardless of the spelling or punctuation, which, because I'm not looking for them, I hardly notice them.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Absolutely. This was a thread just ripe for proof-reading and, indeed, for making one's own errors. I don't read other threads with a view to correcting everything. I just read what people have to say, regardless of the spelling or punctuation, which, because I'm not looking for them, I hardly notice them.

People just love to be right, mainly for that underlying warm feeling it gives them. On spelling, grammar, JCLs, singing at the Amex, armchair football fans and so on, they will happily make others wrong just so they can be right. I think it's just part of human nature and says more about us when we do the whole 'I'm right and you're wrong' thing than the person we are directing it at.