A bit difficult language, perhaps

Author	Message
anniet Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 2 Feb 14 Posts: 7105 Credit: 1,577,368 RAC: 75	Message 1545629 - Posted: 22 Jul 2014, 2:07:44 UTC - in response to Message 1545621. I had the interesting experience of lodging in a youth hostel in Paris for a week. The lady running the place put all the "English" speakers in one. Me with my West Texas drawl, A pair from Brooklyn, a pair from the deep south, a pair from someplace in Australia, a pair from Scotland someplace, and one old man with what I believe was a deep cockney accent. Although we spoke the same language, the conversation was almost mutually unintelligible. :))))))))))) I can imagine! ID: 1545629 ·

Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0	Message 1545747 - Posted: 22 Jul 2014, 8:34:34 UTC The Hardware Shop The mind is a weird and mysterious place ID: 1545747 ·

Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0	Message 1545764 - Posted: 22 Jul 2014, 9:14:53 UTC - in response to Message 1545761. Shopping list "small union man". ;~) The mind is a weird and mysterious place ID: 1545764 ·

John McLeod VII Volunteer developer Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 15 Jul 99 Posts: 24806 Credit: 790,712 RAC: 0	Message 1547852 - Posted: 26 Jul 2014, 5:04:30 UTC - in response to Message 1547334. A piano was owned by a Lady with carved and twisted legs. The doctor said that there was nothing seriously wrong with a smile. To be French is to be like no one else; to be American is to be like everyone else (Peter Ustinov). The first two sentences need commas BOINC WIKI ID: 1547852 ·

John McLeod VII Volunteer developer Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 15 Jul 99 Posts: 24806 Credit: 790,712 RAC: 0	Message 1548170 - Posted: 26 Jul 2014, 20:34:10 UTC - in response to Message 1547898. The doctor said that there was nothing seriously wrong, with a smile. This conveys the correct meaning. BOINC WIKI ID: 1548170 ·

David S Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 4 Oct 99 Posts: 18352 Credit: 27,761,924 RAC: 12	Message 1549268 - Posted: 29 Jul 2014, 2:21:59 UTC - in response to Message 1548377. Nope it doesn't, that comma is just a pause for breath :-) You would need to add inverted commas to your interpretation. The doctor said that "there was nothing seriously wrong", with a smile. In my version, you could add a comma but not needed. The doctor with a smile, said that there was nothing seriously wrong. Your version could be taken as differentiating the smiling doctor from the frowning doctor. You can either put another comma after "doctor" or change it to "The doctor said with a smile that there was nothing seriously wrong. David Sitting on my butt while others boldly go, Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri. ID: 1549268 ·

David S Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 4 Oct 99 Posts: 18352 Credit: 27,761,924 RAC: 12	Message 1549457 - Posted: 29 Jul 2014, 13:57:40 UTC - in response to Message 1549361. The doctor, with a smile, said that there was nothing seriously wrong. The doctor said with a smile that there was nothing seriously wrong. I think I prefer your version by a whisker. But I am quite sure that one is more technically correct than the other. Grammatically it may be to do with objective and subjective clauses but I'm not sure. We were taught at school that a couple of good rules of thumb were to read the text to yourself, and place a comma where you would naturally pause for breath, and a semicolon, where you might pause for effect. But to my dying day I will never accept that "an hotel" is correct and "a hotel" isn't, I don't care what the experts say! I'll agree with you on that. David Sitting on my butt while others boldly go, Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri. ID: 1549457 ·

©2024 University of California

SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.