ASF spelling and grammar lessons

[2020hindsight]

Anyone have a rule on hyphenating words?

For instance ...
John Wayne hollered "It's noon! DRAW, you purple nosed, red necked, yellow spined, **** eyed, lilly livered, varmint!".

now he isn't calling the varmit a lilly, but his liver -
so it sorta makes more sense when you hyperventilate - or whatever the word is

John Wayne hollered "It's noon! DRAW, you purple-nosed, red-necked, yellow-spined, ****-eyed, lilly-livered, varmint!".

or maybe that should be "lilly-livid varmint"

Heck, all I know is that every rule seems to have an exception ...

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.'
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'

 

[2020hindsight]

wys ... how about this one

The pommie tourist crawled into the Birdsvile Pub like a purple-nosed, lobster-faced, puce-necked, plum-exhausted Rainbow Serpent.

Not sure why plums get exhausted , but there ya go

 

[noirua]

When a hyphenated phrase is coming up, and you are qualifying it beforehand, it is necessary to write, "He was a two- or three-year-old."

 

[rederob]

When a hyphenated phrase is coming up, and you are qualifying it beforehand, it is necessary to write, "He was a two- or three-year-old."

My thoughts are that the hyphen is redundant after "two" as the sense is retained and carried into the correctly hyphenated subject, ie a three-year-old.

Hyphens serve to create or convey a single sense, and allay confusion. For example, "re-sign" without the hyphen is the complete opposite sense.

Back to the example. It is better stated as, "He was two or three years old."
We can test the sense:
"How old was the boy?"
"He was two or three."
Or
"Two or three years old."

 

[Wysiwyg]

When a hyphenated phrase is coming up, and you are qualifying it beforehand, it is necessary to write, "He was a two- or three-year-old."

Noirua,
Why would you want to join two and or?Why is it qualifying three-year-old?
It is uncommon.

 

[2020hindsight]

Noirua,
Why would you want to join two and or?Why is it qualifying three-year-old?
It is uncommon.

well, wys
I also reckon it's "two- or three-year-old."
reason :- parallel construction. (clarification / reinforcement of same in this case) . But sometimes it can be two different meanings (imho)
eg :-

a) After she fell down the steps, the nun was black and blue and red-faced.

b) After she fell down the steps, the nun was black- and blue- and red-faced.

i.e. do the bruises on this colourful lady extend beyond her face or don't they ?..

 

[Wysiwyg]

well, wys
I also reckon it's "two- or three-year-old."
reason :- parallel construction. (clarification / reinforcement of same in this case) . But sometimes it can be two different meanings (imho)
eg :-

a) After she fell down the steps, the nun was black and blue and red-faced.

b) After she fell down the steps, the nun was black- and blue- and red-faced.

i.e. do the bruises on this colourful lady extend beyond her face or don't they ?..

Poor sentence structure 2020.

Let`s look at it a different way ...

After she fell down the stairs, the nun was bruised and embarrassed.

You could then follow with an injury and emotion description if deemed necessary.

 

[2020hindsight]

Poor sentence structure 2020.

Let`s look at it a different way ...

After she fell down the stairs, the nun was bruised and embarrassed.

You could then follow with an injury and emotion description if deemed necessary.

lol - okay okay ... you win

PS but maybe the nun was black and blue because (imagine Michael Jackson in reverse) God decided to make her an Afro-American with a bout of depression?

 

[Wysiwyg]

lol - okay okay ... you win

I could possibly do without the comma so as to get the sentence "flowing".When wanted, reading and writing should "flow" in my opinion.

Reading beautifully constructed sentences now and then is a delight compared to the overly punctuated (you know what I mean) structure more evident these days.

 

[rederob]

well, wys
I also reckon it's "two- or three-year-old."
reason :- parallel construction. (clarification / reinforcement of same in this case) . But sometimes it can be two different meanings (imho)

In this case the boy was "either or".
He was a two-year-old, or a three-year-old.
He cannot be both at the same time.
If the hyphen does not add to meaning/sense/clarity then it is redundant.

 

[2020hindsight]

I could possibly do without the comma so as to get the sentence "flowing".When wanted, reading and writing should "flow" in my opinion.

Reading beautifully constructed sentences now and then is a delight compared to the overly punctuated (you know what I mean) structure more evident these days.

yep and any five- or six-year-old should be taught exactly that.

PS I still like that one ...

"Eventually the Bed and Breakfast were found, hidden amongst the mangroves at the far end of the cove"

 

[Wysiwyg]

"Eventually the Bed and Breakfast were found, hidden amongst the mangroves at the far end of the cove"

Not wishing to seem like a parent here but if BnB is plural then were.Otherwise was.Is there a `far` end, a `near`end, a middle `end` or just an end?

 

[2020hindsight]

Not wishing to seem like a parent here but if BnB is plural then were.Otherwise was.

Sorry it was in response to "Literacy and Langauge is taught in most schools." being called obviously wrong.

I was just thinking that that's not necessarily wrong - Devil's Avocado whatever.

This is a good site:
http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/426348/2805.htm

Lol - Hyphens help to differentiate between different meanings eg ....

"I want my money back - you told me this was a "dirty-movie theater",

No I didn't , I told you my theater was a "dirty movie-theater".

 

[2020hindsight]

Is there a `far` end, a `near`end, a middle `end` or just an end?

lol - The Irish defence

reminds me of this one ...

Pipe Regulations

1.All pipe is to be made of a long hole, surrounded by metal or plastic centred around the hole.

2. The I.D. (Inside diameter) of the pipe must not exceed the O.D. (Outside diameter) otherwise the hole will be on the outside.

3. Long pipes shall have "Long Pipe" painted on them at each end.

4. All pipe over 500ft (153 M) in length should have the words long pipe painted in the middle so the contractor will not have walk entire length of the pipe to determine it is a long pipe or short pipe.

 

[rederob]

So should you have a hyphen after "light"?
"The half-baked son-in-law was both light- and butter-fingered".

No.
The sense is not altered by adding a hyphen.
Unless you thought the son-in-law was fluorescing!

 

[Doris]

PS I still like that one ...

"Eventually the Bed and Breakfast were found, hidden amongst the mangroves at the far end of the cove"

Not wishing to seem like a parent here but if BnB is plural then were.Otherwise was.Is there a `far` end, a `near`end, a middle `end` or just an end?

Hmmm

When you write Bed and Breakfast you do not need italics nor quotation marks to indicate it is a single subject.

Capitalizing the words suffices so the reader comprehends.

2020's "Eventually the bed and breakfast were found, hidden amongst the mangroves at the far end of the cove"

...would thus no longer be humorous.

Wysiwyg - with your innate passion for flow of words, have you considered writing short stories for magazines?

I have a friend who, as a hobby, did this. He used a female pseudo and wrote for women's magazines.
He is now a screenwriter, for American producers, working from Adelaide.
Previous to this, he owned and MD'd a listed company - still a major shareholder.

Hmmm... looking at flow of words:

* When you are building apprehensive tension, the words and sentences should be short.
- or if you're intending the topic to be focused or highlighted.
* If you are creating an emotive or visual development they will be longer.
- intending the topic to be encapsulated/integrated.

 

[2020hindsight]

No.
The sense is not altered by adding a hyphen.
Unless you thought the son-in-law was fluorescing!

well rederob, again we disagree.. (I think the hyphen is essential) ...

You say it's ok to say :-
"The half-baked son-in-law was both light and butter-fingered".

I would say that means something completely different .... (or ambiguous at best). i.e. I reckon it means the opposite (in part) of ..

"The half-baked son-in-law was both overweight and butter-fingered".

No biggie - let's not start calling each other names over this lol.

When you write Bed and Breakfast you do not need italics nor quotation marks to indicate it is a single subject.

Capitalizing the words suffices so the reader comprehends.

mmm
you sure ?
So what about :-

Literature and Language was taught in schools. ?

If it's one subject, I would always take the safe option and add quotation marks :-

"Literature and Language" was taught in schools.

 

[2020hindsight]

What's another word for synonym?

or thesaurus for that matter?

btw, Did you know that "gullible" is not in the dictionary?

 

[rederob]

2020
When you used "both" in your sentence it is implicit that a sense is shared with "fingered".
If you want to separate the sense of "weight" from "butter-fingered" you do not use "both" in the sentence, thus:

The half-baked son-in-law was overweight and butter-fingered.

 

[Julia]

well rederob, again we disagree.. (I think the hyphen is essential) ...

I'm with Rederob on this. The extra hyphen is superfluous and looks a bit silly.

So what about :-

Literature and Language was taught in schools. ?

If it's one subject, I would always take the safe option and add quotation marks :-

"Literature and Language" was taught in schools.

If I read this I'd assume you were referring to the name of a particular course taught in schools. I'm not sure that it's necessary, but if that is the context then I'd agree with you that enclosing it in quotation marks makes the meaning clearer. And then, yes, of course you would say "was taught".