― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 17 July 2003 12:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 17 July 2003 13:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
things belonging to Cousin It are Cousin It's
― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Chris P (Chris P), Thursday, 17 July 2003 14:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 17 July 2003 19:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
That's what people kept telling me, but I was never that adventurous.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 17 July 2003 20:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 17 July 2003 21:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 18 July 2003 01:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
It used to be gramatically acceptable to use a masculine pronoun (he, him, etc.) when referring to a person of unspecified gender (you know what I mean.. I can't think of any other way to put it), but now the "he or she"/"his or her" method is the proper form.
I'm not sure if it makes a difference whether you use a slash or the word "or." I suspect that the slash is unacceptable in formal writing.
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 18 July 2003 02:11 (twenty-one years ago) link
― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Friday, 18 July 2003 02:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 18 July 2003 03:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
Unless it's academic writing, and it allows you to make a terrible pun somehow.
― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 18 July 2003 04:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
Proper, maybe. But it should be pointed out that if you're having to cram this into your sentence, you;re writing a clumsy sentence, and you should probably drop back and punt.
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 18 July 2003 04:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 18 July 2003 04:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:44 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:45 (twenty years ago) link
hyphensOur style is to use one word wherever possible, including some instances where a word might be hyphenated by other publications. Hyphens tend to clutter up text (particularly when the computer breaks already hyphenated words at the end of lines)
Inventions, ideas and new concepts often begin life as two words, then become hyphenated, before finally becoming accepted as one word. Why wait? "Wire-less" and "down-stairs" were once hyphenated. In pursuit of this it is preferable to go further than Collins does in many cases: eg trenchcoat is two words in Collins but one under our style
Never use hyphens after adverbs, eg politically naive, wholly owned. But do use them to form compound adjectives, eg two-tonne vessel, three-year deal
Do use hyphens where not using one would be ambiguous, eg to distinguish "black-cab drivers come under attack" from "black cab-drivers come under attack"
― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:54 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 March 2004 00:57 (twenty years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 03:45 (twenty years ago) link
Tracer, I read this as advocating the phrase "fact-checking" as a verb (sorry, should have made that clear) so thanks were in order!
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 04:16 (twenty years ago) link
― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 04:17 (twenty years ago) link
― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 09:43 (twenty years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 11:44 (twenty years ago) link
assuming i only have one brother, would it be acceptable to write, "I went with my brother Isaac to the store" or do i have to write, "I went with my brother, Isaac, to the store" ?
for some reason i am under the impression that non-essential info can be stuck in without commas as long as it is only one or two words. but apparently, this is wrong?
― j c (j c), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:33 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Friday, 1 October 2004 03:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 1 October 2004 04:13 (nineteen years ago) link
(fun with nonessential elements)
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Friday, 1 October 2004 05:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 1 October 2004 06:16 (nineteen years ago) link
'I went to the store with my brother Isaac.'
― Core of Sphagnum (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 1 October 2004 06:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Friday, 1 October 2004 12:17 (nineteen years ago) link
The evidence for “Americanization” of French culture is mixed, and its extent is impossible to measure, as culture is not easily definable, let alone quantifiable.
Please can you help me arrange it so it sounds better. Most importantly I need a more essay-register way of saying "let alone", but the whole sentence seems really clumsy still and I don't know how to fix it.
I hope there's someone around who can help. My head hurts.
― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link
Culture is not easily definable, much less quantifiable. Thus, not only is the evidence for "Americanization" of French culture mixed, but its actual extent is impossible to measure.
?
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:17 (nineteen years ago) link
the "not only/but" thing is unnecessary
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― Puddin'Head Miller (PJ Miller), Sunday, 28 November 2004 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link
Thanks all.
I just finished my essay, wahey!!
― Cathy (Cathy), Sunday, 28 November 2004 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 28 November 2004 19:41 (nineteen years ago) link
I've decided to switch from a Jan 27, 1997 format to a 27 Jan 1997 format for dates because eliminating the extra comma helps the readability of some of my nastier sentences.
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 28 November 2004 20:46 (nineteen years ago) link
also check yrself once you start proofing plastic bags, there's a lot of vernacular house style out there and you will lose yr mind to no purpose
― mark s, Monday, 23 May 2022 17:18 (two years ago) link
all lowercase is always correct
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:19 (two years ago) link
thats right
― mark s, Monday, 23 May 2022 17:23 (two years ago) link
Shouldn't that obviously be "Thank You for Shopping with Us!"?
Personally speaking, I'd lose the exclamation point as making them sound over-excitable and perhaps mentally unbalanced.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:27 (two years ago) link
Should really be: “Thank You for Shopping with ‘us!’”
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:31 (two years ago) link
Thank You for Shopping with BIG HOOS aka the streendriver
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:32 (two years ago) link
Songs where it’s fun to say HOOS in place of the actual plastic bag.
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:34 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFv53VolRj8
Perhaps I will start posting in HOOS case.
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:35 (two years ago) link
DO U see?!
LET ME TRY this on for size.
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 17:36 (two years ago) link
TS: ALL OF A SUDDEN VS. all of the sudden
― Apollo and the Aqueducts (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 23 May 2022 19:53 (two years ago) link
Can I use "occasioned" like this?
the publication of X occasioned the first use of some new word
Note that the new word doesn't appear in X itself but appears in a review of X.
― Antifa Lockhart (Leee), Thursday, 30 June 2022 22:32 (two years ago) link
It's grammatical enough, and "occasioned" is certainly an accepted word, so I'd say 'yes' to your question.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Thursday, 30 June 2022 22:44 (two years ago) link
this usage is uncontroversially fine: if i was bored or being testy as an acitivist sub editor i might switch in "saw" or "led to" depending on context (context = nature of nearby sentences acc my picky sub self lol) viz "the publication of X saw the first use of some new word"/"the publication of X led to the first use of some new word"
gloss: if "occasioned" maybe possibly presents a micro-speedbump for a reader, i think "saw" presents none, while "led to" perhaps implies the fact you note, that the new word arrives a little later than X…
― mark s, Friday, 1 July 2022 13:26 (two years ago) link
you might also use "prompted"
but your sentence is fine as is imo
― budo jeru, Friday, 1 July 2022 15:03 (two years ago) link
Yeah, I think "occasioned" there is a little overwritten and that with a little bit of effort "led to" would be much more readable.
― Antifa Lockhart (Leee), Friday, 1 July 2022 16:31 (two years ago) link
saw (a young person) referred to as a 'third-generation holocaust survivor'
obviously the topic is fraught, but it seems like there should be a better way to describe someone whose grandparents survived the camps
― mookieproof, Thursday, 11 January 2024 01:55 (eight months ago) link
A completely uncontroversial way to say that would be "a grandchild of Holocaust survivors."
And while - as mòokieproof says - it is fraught, it does seem a bit much to imply that you "survived" an event that you did not personally experience.
I am not, personally, a survivor of the Visigothic Sack of Rome, the Protestant Reformation, the Irish Potato Famine, the Trail of Tears, the American Revolution, the Civil War, or school desegregation.
Maybe (stretching this quite a bit) I have experienced some personal effects from the Cold War and/or the Vietnam War due to my parents' participation in them, but calling myself a "survivor" seems more like stolen valor than empathy and solidarity.
― CthulhuLululemon (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 11 January 2024 04:19 (eight months ago) link