Calling All Grammar Police

[mbrummal]

I like the red, blue, yellow, orange and green, and purple flowers.

I like the red, blue, yellow, orange and green and purple flowers.



The point is that these sentences are identical except for one missing comma. That missing comma changes the meaning of the sentence. In the first one I like a variety of flowers including a type that are orange and green. In the second sentence the meaning is hard to determine. Do I like a variety of flowers including a type that have three colors in them (orange, green, and purple)? Or did I substitute the word and for a comma? The first sentence is straight-up solid. Why insert ambiguity into it?

Then I retract my previous comment. I really hate grammar.

 

[Roverlady]

Another that really bothers me is the absence of a semicolon. There are quite a few people in this world who have no idea how to use one!

 

[KyleT]

MLA and APA have both removed the double space after a .

in word, line spacing options, spacing before and after are set to 0pt. line spacing at 2.0 or double.

the format regulations change anually.

 

[ptschram]

For a proper discussion of grammar and punctuation read the book "Eats shoots and leaves" .

I was thinking "Strunk and White".

 

[jhmover]

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.

 

[Ol'Drippy]

IreallydontunderstandwhatyouthinkiswrongwiththewaythekidsaretypingthesedaysIcantbebotheredbypunctuationscommasandthingsofthatsort

 

[Ol'Drippy]

It put a space in there anyway for some reason.. dangit I've been in the office waay to long today, I need outta here

 

[mdycus2980]

I am used to spacing twice but my new phone will only auto-capitalize if I space once! Life is hard....

 

[Blue]

this whole text message craze will be the death of the english language

c u guys l8tr

 

[Redlich-Kwong]

Have people stopped using double space behind a hard stop when typing(i.e. period, question mark...)?

In reports I have been involved in lately, I have noticed that they are not used (at least consistently).

I remember being taught to use them, don't really remember a reason being given?

Are kids these days still learning to type that way?

Excellent question. Per the Chicago Manual of Style:

"6.11 Space between sentences

In typeset matter, one space, not two (in other words, a regular word space), follows any mark of punctuation that ends a sentence, whether a period, a colon, a question mark, an exclamation point, or closing quotation marks."

CMOS is great reference, but shouldn't necessarily be observed by all. "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" along with "Strunk and White" are likely more applicable.

 

[scottagnew101]

IreallydontunderstandwhatyouthinkiswrongwiththewaythekidsaretypingthesedaysIcantbebotheredbypunctuationscommasandthingsofthatsort

Is it sad that I can read this?... Actually, that I can read it pretty well.:ack:

 

[gmookher]

I've never even heard of that. I may have been taught that, but I clearly don't remember. but i dident go 2 no colegge.

The double space after a full stop is appropriate and correct.


oh, and its "L8r"

 

[mdycus2980]

this whole text message craze will be the death of the english language

c u guys l8tr

OU812? If we had only known what grand pioneers of language evolution Van Halen were...or was...or something.

 

[jim-00-4.6]

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.
In the event of an actual emergency, you would be instructed where to tune in your area for news and other information.
This concludes this test.

That's what I usually type when I need some text for whatever reason.

Our corporate office is staffed by illiterate monkey dweebs.
They generate these .pdf files they expect us to send to customers that are full of typos.
I used to send them back, with the corrections noted in the email.

Nothing ever got fixed, so now I just delete them.

 

[p m]

Nothing ever got fixed, so now I just delete them.

I used to review papers for American Geophysical Union, now I don't - for the same reason (not just typos, more serious stuff is routinely ignored).

 

[JohnB]

Your third grade teacher is calling. She has some homework for all you grammar police loosers.

 

[landrovered]

JohnB,

Your second grade teacher has a spelling lesson for you, it is "losers" not "loosers".

 

[flyfisher11]

The serial comma is useful to remove ambiguity. Making a hard rule out of not using it often leads to misunderstood sentences. And that's why I hate AP style.

I much prefer MLA.

 

[flyfisher11]

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.

Ain't it loverly!

 

[landrovered]

There is no rain on the plain in Spain; I checked. Only olive trees.