quote:
So quoth Kael:
Semi-colons take up less room on disk then a full colon
Colon.
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This one time, at Vorbis camp:
Don't you do em dashes straight up against the words on either side, like with ellipses?Em dashes look funny--they remind me of grilled cucumbers.
Grilled cucumbers do indeed sound odd.
quote:
Falaanla Marr attempted to be funny by writing:
Grilled cucumbers do indeed sound odd.
They're actually quite decadent.
quote:
Vorbis had this to say about pies:
They're actually quite decadent.
Would it just be a simple matter of throwing them in a pan? Do you need to season them at all?
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Falaanla Marr had this to say about Jimmy Carter:
Would it just be a simple matter of throwing them in a pan? Do you need to season them at all?
I've never cooked them myself, but they're mostly a component in dishes. Any seasoning is usually added later in the preperation of the dish--not while grilling the cucumber itself.
quote:
Mr. Parcelan had this to say about Knight Rider:
"Suddar hadn't been well these days; no one could rightly prove that his testicles had fallen off, but no one denied it, either."
This is why we need more stories from you.
quote:
Vorbis startled the peaceful upland Gorillas by blurting:
Don't you do em dashes straight up against the words on either side, like with ellipses?Em dashes look funny--they remind me of grilled cucumbers.
Yes, you do. And I used dashes throughout my academic career. Without penalty or comment.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Quoth Kait:
The way I understand it, the proper way USED to be to have a comma before the 'and', and now it's more correct not to have one, but neither way is incorrect.
Not even a little bit.
It's a matter of which style guide one follows.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
Thinking about your posts
(and billing you for it) since 2001
quote:
Gydyon had this to say about the Spice Girls:
Em and en dashes are a necessary part of academic writing, as they are required by the Bluebook for legal writing and I think at least one of the manuals of style for other types of writing.
what's the difference between an em and an en dash?
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From the book of Gadani, chapter 3, verse 16:
Can someone tell me what a participle is? D:
I don't know, but I think yours is dangling.
quote:
Delphi Aegis had this to say about Pirotess:
I don't know, but I think yours is dangling.
Ha ha.
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From the book of Falaanla Marr, chapter 3, verse 16:
Yeah, any posts are welcome, I'm not saying anyone is an idiot for not typing properly or something as noone is perfect. I have a hard time with semicolons. Others have a hard time with commas. This way, everyone learns something new. It just depends on how you bring the subject up.I, personally, still will try to avoid semicolons. While they can be handy, I prefer the dash.
But yes, the one with separating items in a series that are a part of a series is a good use. That's about the only time I will use them.
No one is not a compound word. 
I apologize. Spelling is generally my button as opposed to punctuation.
quote:
Densetsu obviously shouldn't have said:
No one is not a compound word.I apologize. Spelling is generally my button as opposed to punctuation.
You must hate me. I try to get things right, but I know I make mistakes. Odd mistakes.
quote:
Palador ChibiDragon had this to say about Knight Rider:
You must hate me. I try to get things right, but I know I make mistakes. Odd mistakes.
Naw. I don't really hate it enough to say anything (Although this thread's purpose seems to be just that 
), but if you would really like to know, then the only thing you do that makes me even look twice is spell, 'Yeah' incorrectly.
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Falaanla Marr was listening to Cher while typing:
Example 2: This sentence properly uses commas, periods and capitalization.
I have to agree with the dissenters on this sentence. I was told that the comma before the "and" showed the difference between the last two atoms in your list (for all you LISP people out there).
Example: "The inheritance was split between Mark, Joe and Jenny."
...would indicate that half of the inheritance was given to Mark, the other half to Joe and Jenny collectively.
Example: "The inheritance was split between Mark, Joe, and Jenny."
...with the comma, the three are on an even footing, no precendence taken over the last two on the list.
...Of course, I heard this from an AAMT-style professional. *shrug*
And I really can't blame people on the boards for bad spelling or punctuation; it's everywhere. I even see it in the upper-level English classes I'm forced to take for my BS.
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Yes, Katrinity deserved to die, and I hope they burn in hell!
I abuse the hell out of commas and you'll never stop me ---> , <--- really, I mean it!
This is where a semicolon is warranted.
It's not something people hear about.
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Channeling the spirit of Sherlock Holmes, Vorbis absently fondled Watson and proclaimed:
what's the difference between an em and an en dash?
An em dash is the traditional "double dash"--like the one preceding this clause. The en dash is the short one used to hyphenate words. 
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
quote:
Bloodsage stopped staring at Deedlit long enough to write:
The en dash is the short one used to hyphenate words.
I always called that a hyphen.
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Verily, the chocolate bunny rabits doth run and play while Gadani gently hums:
I always called that a hyphen.
Technically, there is a difference between an en dash and a hyphen, but only on typeset manuscripts. You'll note that there aren't separate hyphen and en dash keys on your keyboard. When typing, they differ only in usage. Hence my example.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Bloodsage had this to say about Cuba:
Technically, there is a difference between an en dash and a hyphen, but only on typeset manuscripts. You'll note that there aren't separate hyphen and en dash keys on your keyboard. When typing, they differ only in usage. Hence my example.
Oh, gotcha. I've never heard of em or en dashes, so... 
quote:
Check out the big brain on Gadani!
Oh, gotcha. I've never heard of em or en dashes, so...
Until you have searched a manuscript as an editor to verify that all the hyohens are converted to en dashes, the double dashes are converted to em dashes, and the em and en dashes are properly placed and not reversed anywhere, you do not know what pain is.
Thinking about your posts
(and billing you for it) since 2001
quote:
Check out the big brain on Gydyon!
Until you have searched a manuscript as an editor to verify that all the hyohens are converted to en dashes, the double dashes are converted to em dashes, and the em and en dashes are properly placed and not reversed anywhere, you do not know what pain is.
That's so FUN when you're doing it for a newspaper.
quote:
Gydyon had this to say about Knight Rider:
Until you have searched a manuscript as an editor to verify that all the hyohens are converted to en dashes, the double dashes are converted to em dashes, and the em and en dashes are properly placed and not reversed anywhere, you do not know what pain is.
I like how Word automatically changes my double dashes into em dashes. ^-^ It spoils me, so I get irritated when I actually see a double dash in, say, AIM.
quote:
Suddar wrote this then went back to looking for porn:
Also, whenever an item in a series contains a comma, you seperate the items of the series with a semicolon. Again, I'm bad at explaining. But to make the point: when saying "I need milk, cheese, and eggs," it's perfectly okay to use a comma. But then, if you elaborate or otherwise use a comma in the series, you bust out the semicolon: "I need milk, for the cereal; cheese, for my sandwich; and eggs, for my breakfast."
Really? I've never heard of that. It's interesting if true, though. The only use I know of for semicolons is to add onto an idea, but as an independent fact. Hard to explain...like, "He loved Amanda; as for Rolande, he was considered an arch rival." They're in the same vein, but COULD function as seperate sentences, if desired/required.
Also, I don't think semicolon is spelled with a hyphen (or en dash, whatever you want to call it) as the dictionary lists it as one word. Maybe it depends on the dictionary you use, though...
My Philosophy teacher brought up an interesting issue the other week, he demonstrated how the usual course for terms in English is that if it's two words, later on we add a hyphen, and then finally it simply becomes one word. There are countless examples of this...rundown, footboard, etc. etc. etc. But one term that never seems to shorten, despite the fact that it is hundreds of years old, is "ice cream." I mean, think about it. That term has been around for so long, yet we don't even put a hyphen in it. Isn't that weird? Anyway, I thought it was interesting.
Learning Japanese is making me realize just how stupidly difficult the English language is...poor foreigners.
quote:
Verily, Falaanla Marr doth proclaim:
That's so FUN when you're doing it for a newspaper.
so much more fun when you're doing it for a law review that only uber law nerds read omg
Thinking about your posts
(and billing you for it) since 2001
