Use a friggin' comma!

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rectorsquid

climber
Lake Tahoe
Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 21, 2011 - 02:12pm PT
I have to post this because I just tried to read a lot of text and it was written like crap.

The proper way to put a pause in a sentence is to use a comma. An ellipses is not a friggin' comma. How do you expect to get hired for a job when you can't write English at an elementary school level?

The amount of writing on this forum that is below middle-school quality if disturbing at times.

An ellipses is a way to show that there was text that was removed from what is being presented. Usually an ellipses is used to skip important information that does not fit with your agenda when quoting someone.

Just to make this a climbing thread, I'll mention that I need to get my cam slings replaced. I have a few that are probably nine years old now but since I have not been climbing much, I have not gotten around to replacing them. I'm not sure if I should keep with nylon or go with Dyneema just to be more cool. Nylon is probably better.

Dave

P.S. Use a friggin' comma!

P.S.S. Edited to fix my missing punctuation mark, unclear sentence, and repeated word in a sentence.
Port

Trad climber
San Diego
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:15pm PT
Learn to write if your going on for pages on something you think is important

You're, no?

The amount of writing on this forum that is below middle-school quality if disturbing at times

Oh yea, "if disturbing?" whats that mean?
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:16pm PT
Use a friggin' comma!

Dude, get a clue. Comma's are, like, SO last century. Worrying about comma's is for wrinklies who probably arnt even on Facebook. Apostrophe's are what 21 century writer's use.
supafly

Trad climber
vancouver, bc
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:16pm PT
Learn to write if your going on for pages

haha love it.
supafly

Trad climber
vancouver, bc
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:16pm PT
beat me to it port :)
PAUL SOUZA

Trad climber
Clovis, CA
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:17pm PT
How do you expect to get hired for a job when you can't write English at an elementary school English level.

May want to end that with a question mark. ;)
rectorsquid

climber
Lake Tahoe
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2011 - 02:19pm PT
OK, so maybe I should say "learn to punctuate." Writing is clearly difficult but writing...like THIS *IS* just plain...dumb.

Dave
rectorsquid

climber
Lake Tahoe
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2011 - 02:23pm PT
Yep. I missed a punctuation mark. I also used the word "English" twice in a sentence when it was needed only once. One of my other sentences was not well formed at all so I removed it.

I just could not hold back my rant after seeing so many dots. There were just so many dots that I wanted to scream.

Dave
High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:28pm PT
Dave... umm.... you sure seem uncharacteristically moody... or sensitive... this morning. What... did your climbing gym in Tahoe take down your favorite route... or what? Just askin...

.....

Port,

go climb something on Whitney or the Hulk and post up a TR... get busy...
Port

Trad climber
San Diego
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:50pm PT
Port,

go climb something on Whitney or the Hulk and post up a TR... get busy...

I quit my job and I'm working at a climbing gym in SF part-time. Now I've got all this free time to climb. As soon as this weather improves I'm eager to do sunspot dihedral. Wanna climb it with me? We can spend hours talking about how stupid Klimmer is.
Brandon-

climber
Done With Tobacco
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:54pm PT
Bitching about gramatical(sic) errors on internet forums is akin to shoveling sh#t against the incoming tide...
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Apr 21, 2011 - 02:56pm PT
rectorsquid "if that really is your name..."

You have grossly under-represented the use of ellipsis, which has 7 (seven) articles in The Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H.W. Fowler, who's humor and learned indignation rise far above the drivel you wrote in the OP, as well directed as it is.

These seven are "1. Be and have. 2. Second part of compound verb. 3. With change of voice. 4. That (conj.). 5. After than. 6. With inversion. 7. That (rel. pron.)."

[Please note also, the use of 2 (two) spaces after the full stop "." in the above quote, a practice which used to be the convention, a convention that has, regrettably, fallen into disuse.]

I again quote:
"Ellipsis means the omission from a sentence of words needed to complete the construction or sense. That the reader may at once realize the scope of the inquiry, a few ellipses of miscellaneous types are first exhibited: The ringleader was hanged and his followers ∧ imprisoned..."

However, you are perhaps reacting to the use of ellipsis in terms of the marks "..." indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause see e.g. ellipsis.

Note that in the definition (the second sense) provided above, that the "omission" need not be "of words" but could be of other things, too...

Please try harder to master at least what is known in English Usage. Aspire to the pith of Fowler, though you may not attain even this goal.
Brandon-

climber
Done With Tobacco
Apr 21, 2011 - 03:01pm PT
Tony Danza?
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Apr 21, 2011 - 03:08pm PT
yes it is true, however, I believe that they are still there if you copy out the text and paste it into a ".txt" file

our white space liberty is denied us under the tyranny of STForum formatting

foment format freedom!
rectorsquid

climber
Lake Tahoe
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2011 - 03:26pm PT
rectorsquid "if that really is your name..."

Ed, David Rector is my real name. I have no need for anonymity unless that stalker person decides I'm a better target than that poor girl.

Now that I wrote that, I'm tempted to remove my name because I don't actually know my audience and I may become the target of a stalker. I might also get a visit from one of the "..." people and end up getting punched in the nose.

Thanks for the info on the ellipsis. I'm sure that I'm selling short the comma as well.

Programmer to programmer I feel the need to remind you, we are not
computers. "Syntax is not everything."

How does anyone know what I do for a living. Oh, this is the internet and all my past posts are available for scrutiny as well as what can be found on Google. Dang.

Bitching about gramatical(sic) errors on internet forums is akin to shoveling sh#t against the incoming tide...

Yes but sometimes a rant is just a rant and it's therapeutic to write down what I'm thinking.

[Please note also, the use of 2 (two) spaces after the full stop "." in the above quote, a practice which used to be the convention, a convention that has, regrettably, fallen into disuse.]

From my small amount of understanding on the subject, typesetters used larger spaces after periods but not double spaces and the double space was only invented with the typewriter. Fixed-pitch fonts made it necessary to better distinguish where sentences ended because the font was so very ugly and hard to read. In typesetting, there has never been a place for two spaces after a period. At least that is how I understand the issue. I sure hate fonts that have a mix of characters with and without serifs.

Dave... umm.... you sure seem uncharacteristically moody... or sensitive... this morning. What... did your climbing gym in Tahoe take down your favorite route... or what? Just askin...

Yes, I am moody today for some reason. I think that telecommuting is just lonely sometimes and I wanted to reach out to the only people around. That and I was trying to read a long post that had lots of "..." where there should have been "," instead. I had a hard time comprehending the subject matter because of the punctuation distraction.

I don't climb at the gym although my office is about 8 inches from it. It is on the other side of my office wall. I don't climb there due to the cost and because it is a climbing gym and there is an actual rock not ten minutes from here. There are lots of offices upstairs in this building but only one that is occupied and shares a wall with the climbing gym. I am lucky no one climbs here during the day because the beginner wall is the wall I share with the gym and the noise from people descending in leaps and bounds and the noise of the auto-belay devices can be a little bit distracting.

Dave





Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Apr 21, 2011 - 03:34pm PT
In typesetting, there has never been a place for two spaces after a period. At least that is how I understand the issue.

Ask anyone in the publishing business to list some of their daily headaches, and "getting rid of all those goddam double spaces" is sure to be on it.
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
Apr 21, 2011 - 03:39pm PT
And lets' not forget apos'trophe abus'e.
seth kovar

climber
Reno, NV
Apr 21, 2011 - 04:18pm PT
Screw you... really!

Grammar Nazi...
Daphne

Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
Apr 21, 2011 - 04:22pm PT
Dave, I am sorry you are having such a bad day...
nutjob

Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
Apr 21, 2011 - 04:42pm PT
I think an ellipsis ascii character, or even three successive dots, is a more concise expression than something in the XML vein like:


<sentence>I was going to the store <pregnant_pause/> shall I go alone?</sentence>
Messages 1 - 20 of total 57 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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