Comments on: Grammar

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 04:21:30 +0000

You just gotta love prescriptive grammar! I still think that the last-item comma before the conjunction in a list is a distraction. And people have been breaking the begin-a-sentence-with-a-conjunction rule with vigor since Winston Churchill published his history of WWII.

My vote is for one space after the period, as publishers (especially web publishers) remove the extra space anyway.

By: Ken

Ken — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 15:42:08 +0000

And for some reason I’m always using periods instead of question marks. Maybe I have an unconscious prejudice against question marks or something like that.

By: Ken

Ken — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 15:39:10 +0000

Here’s one for you. Are there supposed to be two spaces after a period when typing or just one. I always use 2 spaces. I remember learning that 2 spaces is correct, but maybe that has changed.

By: WarAxe

WarAxe — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:47:17 +0000

The comma thing about 20 years ago was you could do either. Then about 10 years ago was that you were NOT to put a comma by the conjunction… and now we’re on the other end where the comma absolutely SHOULD be up to the conjunction. I think both the computer programming world and the legal world played a role in that change… since more commas prevent any possible ambiguity.

Yeah… if the ellipsis is at the end of a sentence you need a period, too, making it FOUR periods. And the periods, whether three or four, are supposed to be spaced. I never do that, and even if I do I think Word will “fix” it for me.

By: John

John — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:13:25 +0000

I actually remember learning that either approach to the second to last word in a list was considered acceptable. I've always preferred to put commas right up to the conjunction. I didn't know that it was considered mandatory now. English Grammar for Dummies still indicates the comma is optional. Ellipses can not only represent intentionally left out speech or text, but for trailing off (which you've demonstrated) or as a pause in speech (which you also demonstrated). You may lean on them harder than most, but you're not a flagrant violator in my opinion. I've seen people who seem to think that periods only come in threes. Holy crap. I just consulted English Grammar for Dummies on ellipses and apparently if the ellipsis falls at the end of a sentence, you should use four dots. I never knew that.