English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

12:00 AM

Snail 2.0?

RegDwigнt

Nov 3 '12 at 1:17, by Robusto

@RegDwighт I am the most modest, yes.

May 7 '11 at 20:37, by Robusto

Yeah, I'm way more modest than that guy.

May 7 '11 at 20:36, by Robusto

I'm too modest for that. Far too modest. Perhaps the most modest person who has ever lived.

Jan 10 '12 at 14:40, by Robusto

@Kitḫ — I am probably the most modest person on ELU. Perhaps in the whole world.

You just can't compete with @robusto.

Feb 8 '13 at 17:01, by Robusto

I am, quite literally, the most modest person in the history of the world.

Mar 12 '11 at 1:47, by Robusto

Seriously, I'm not a rep whore. I'm just that good. And on top of that I'm probably the most modest and self-effacing person on this whole site.

Anonymous

With all that modesty, why not call him Modesto?

RegDwigнt

Because that's the guy he's way more modest than.

May 7 '11 at 20:37, by RegDwight

Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (also spelled Musorgsky, Moussorgsky ) (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839, Karevo – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881, Saint Petersburg), one of the Russian composers known as 'The Five', was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mounta...

Cerberus

Heh.

Of course.

RegDwigнt

Fun fact: mussor is Russian for "trash, rubbish, garbage".

Litter.

Cerberus

12:12 AM

Odd.

So rubbish man?

His ancestors became rich in the rubbisness?

RegDwigнt

The -g- is unexplicable.

Should be Musorsky.

Cerberus

Hmm.

RegDwigнt

Guess he was trying to hide it.

Cerberus

tries to explain g

RegDwigнt

Or maybe he was claiming muss.org ahead of time.

Cerberus

12:14 AM

Haha of course.

RegDwigнt

Why is h afraid of f? Because f g h!

Cerberus

Huh?

What is g the past tense of?

Or is it plural?

RegDwigнt

May 26 at 14:30, by RegDwigнt

Jan 31 '13 at 9:47, by RegDwighт

I am not linking to the Wikipedia article on joke again.

Cerberus

6 secs ago, by Cerberus

I'm not linking to the line again where I say I know it must be a joke but I don't get it.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

1:10 AM

@RegDwigнt So... h is afraid that f will g again?

from here

Cerberus

1:45 AM

Idéfix!!

And a menhir!

Yay!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

2:26 AM

Um . . . hey.

Mitch

hey

user116848

3:55 AM

Good morning folks

user116848

4:33 AM

I have a grammar question.

user116848

You can ping me

LWTBP

5:11 AM

Would you guys find the commas in the following statement too much or well required?

> But today, she walked slow, and, when she came, John saw that she was covered with bruises.

skullpatrol

@LWTBP imo it's a bit too much :)

putting a comma before and after the word "and" sounds kind of awkward to me...maybe remove one of them?

LWTBP

@skullpatrol I agree skullpatrol. But what's the alternative. AFAIK I put it in the right places because they deman it. So what do I do?

skullpatrol

remove the one after and.

But today, she walked slow, and when she came, John saw that she was covered with bruises.

imo

LWTBP

@skullpatrol Is it fine to not have a comma before the appositive when she came?

skullpatrol

it sounds better to me :)

LWTBP

5:22 AM

LOL. Thanks. Is it better discussing these kind of questions in a forum? Or this chat is fine?

skullpatrol

this chat is fine

Cerberus

@LWTBP I would probably put the commas exactly where you put them.

But there are different comma styles.

skullpatrol

@LWTBP you can post it

Cerberus

You might want to reconsider slow and came, though.

Now it's sleepy time, bye!

skullpatrol

later

LWTBP

5:23 AM

Sweet dreams @Cerberus and thanks too. :)

Cerberus

Bye!

poof

LWTBP

See you around @skullpatrol Thanks again. :)

skullpatrol

@LWTBP like Cerberus said it is a matter of your style

LWTBP

Cool!

skullpatrol

thanks for asking :)

LWTBP

5:26 AM

I am slightly OCD. So I will stick to my OG version, since I don't spare commas even for single word adverbial phrases. XD

And my company doesn't follow any styleguide

Not to say the commas in my chat lines are accurate. LOL.

skullpatrol

to me, the word "and" is special wrt commas

LWTBP

sorry... I don't get you. What is wrt?

skullpatrol

with respect to...but that's just the way I read

LWTBP

Hmmm. Cool. You logic is more visually appealing though. I agree.

I am doing editing for a children's book. So, I was wondering which route to take.

skullpatrol

thanks :D

LWTBP

5:32 AM

Wouldn't want children getting confused to the right logic. But wouldn't want their parents complaining to my boss either. :P

skullpatrol

personally, for children; I would show them only "conventional" usage...but that again, is only my humble opinion

LWTBP

OK @skullpatrol I will need to meditate on this. Everytime I reread the book I end up having new grammar questions. LOL.

skullpatrol

@LWTBP how old are they?

LWTBP

Around 10 is what is expected

skullpatrol

hmmm...interesting, enjoy your meditations :)

LWTBP

5:38 AM

LOL. Thanks. Back to work now. Bye.

skullpatrol

later :)

10 years old is a pivotal age

imo

Interesting reading.

LWTBP

10:25 AM

Hey guys. Hey @skullpatrol.

*All people drank this strong but intoxicating drink.*

Would I be right in putting a comma before and after *but intoxicating*?

skullpatrol

sure

LWTBP

So, is the comma REQUIRED as per regular grammar usage or a matter of what I want to get across?

As in All people drank this strong, but intoxicating, drink.

skullpatrol

they say you should be able to remove what's between the commas

All people drank this strong drink

LWTBP

Sure. But if I had to leave out the commas altogether would it be acceptable or actually weird?

The original was without commas.

skullpatrol

your choice, they both sound fine to me :)

LWTBP

10:32 AM

Thanks again. ;)

skullpatrol

:)

Ice Girl

12:08 PM

@skullpatrol Hi

Robusto

12:42 PM

@johan: I am skypalicious now.

LWTBP

1:01 PM

Confirmation: Comma precedes co-ordinating conjunctions only if it's joining two independent clauses. Usual examples of no comma usage show the second clause being subordinate. But if the first clause is not a complete statement you will not use a comma, right?

Eg. Not only did he bless him a lot but he also gave him a lot of blessings.

Comma required before but or not?

Robusto

It's a matter of taste and style.

Think of punctuation marks the way you would about road signs: use them to facilitate traffic flow, not impede it. If they make it easier for the reader to navigate a sentence, use them. If not, leave them out.

LWTBP

@Robusto But so many places online say you cannot use a comma before conjunctions that are not joining independant statements.

??

Robusto

That is a restrictive, and essentially idiotic, view. As the preceding sentences demonstrates. There are many different ways to use commas.

But do what you like. I'm not going to argue with uncited sources.

LWTBP

NP @Robusto Appreciate the help. :)

George Pompidou

1:40 PM

why does Ubuntu take longer to tell me my password is wrong than to log me in when my password is right?

RegDwigнt

@GeorgePompidou because when your password is right it doesn't have to check if it's wrong, DUH.

George Pompidou

I prefer paxdiablo's answer on stackoverflow

so, -1 Reginald Dwight

RegDwigнt

Link or it didn't happen.

George Pompidou

it has been linked

RegDwigнt

Also, if you prefer his answer, that's +1 to him, not -1 to me.

George Pompidou

1:44 PM

nope. I'm that SE dickface who downvotes everything.

RegDwigнt

Stuff and nonsense. I am.

George Pompidou

my friend/roommate selected some random guy we don't know to live with us next year.

makes a big fuss

RegDwigнt

Sec, I'm just checking the actual numbers.

These are yours.

These are mine. QED.

You couldn't begin to downvote anyone before I'd be finished with downvoting everyone.

@GeorgePompidou I'm curious, do people actually have a reference on that, or are they making it up as they go? If it were so clear-cut as absolutely everyone on that page suggests, certainly it should be trivial to produce OVER 9000 references as a proof?

George Pompidou

huh?

a reference on what?

RegDwigнt

That that's really the reason.

Otherwise it's just conjecture. A wild guess.

George Pompidou

1:52 PM

oh, I'ven't the slightest idea.

the reason satisfies me though.

it does make good sense.

RegDwigнt

The question is from 2009, the rules were different back then.

George Pompidou

I wasn't even alive back then; I wouldn't know.

RegDwigнt

Today they'd be all over the answers commenting, "can you back that up? why should we believe you? who are you? where do you live?"

George Pompidou

I live... in stoke on tent.

RegDwigнt

@GeorgePompidou the thing is, we can come up with half a dozen contradicting answers that make just as much sense.

George Pompidou

1:53 PM

it's like stoke on trent but on a tent instead.

user116848

Hi guys. I have a English question.

RegDwigнt

Bring it on.

George Pompidou

get out of here. this is no place for that.

rabble rabble rabble

user116848

Is this sentence grammatical: “Are you sure you are 20 years old because on your profile you wrote that you are 47” Or should I say it like this: “…..you wrote that you were 47” or both are correct?

RegDwigнt

Good hippo, bad hippo.

George Pompidou

1:54 PM

@RegDwigнt the top answer is better than a few answers down where it starts with "I'm not sure but"

then why did you answer

RegDwigнt

@Arrowfar both are correct but were is better style.

George Pompidou

that 47 end quote looks like 47 inches

RegDwigнt

@GeorgePompidou oh, oh, oh, do they also end in "I hope that helps"? I love that one even more.

George Pompidou

giggles

RegDwigнt

If you do not hope it helps, why the hell are you posting?

user116848

1:55 PM

@RegDwigнt okay thanks! He is a mean hippo this George

RegDwigнt

@Arrowfar we swap the roles every couple hours.

user116848

Oh, haha

George Pompidou

I'm going to start my questions from now on with "This isn't at all correct, " and ending with "I hope it doesn't help and you die"

yeah, we're like good English cop/bad German cop.

RegDwigнt

8

A: "He didn't know where New Jersey was"

Both tenses are OK, but I believe the past tense is a bit more common: it may be somewhat contrary to logic, but it sounds better. Harmony of tenses (if that's what it's called) is a linguistic phenomenon that is not always very logical.

user116848

@RegDwigнt I have seen that question a zillion times :) But still some new sentences look confusing so I ask them :)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

1:58 PM

@RegDwigнt Did you see the Star-Wars Steampunk MOC contest? The finalists are pretty good

RegDwigнt

No I didn't.

George Pompidou

he wants you to click on his link, that sneaky bar steward

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

RegDwigнt

And now that you mention it, I forgot all about checking whatever happened to Friends in Space.

An idea I had been entertaining myself for way too long before TLG went ahead and just did an official competition.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

oooooooh yeah I totally forgot about that

George Pompidou

1:59 PM

am I the only one who gets a little bit irritated when someone says "grammatically correct"

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…