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ASF spelling and grammar lessons

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Wysiwyg said:
Anyone have a rule on hyphenating words?
Click to expand...

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.'
Click to expand...
 
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
 
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 said:
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."
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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."
 
noirua said:
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."
Click to expand...

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

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?
 
2020hindsight said:
lol - okay okay ... you win
Click to expand...


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.
 
2020hindsight said:

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)
Click to expand...
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.
 

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"
 
2020hindsight said:
"Eventually the Bed and Breakfast were found, hidden amongst the mangroves at the far end of the cove"
Click to expand...

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?
 
Wysiwyg said:
Not wishing to seem like a parent here but if BnB is plural then were.Otherwise was.
Click to expand...

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.

rederob] If the hyphen does not add to meaning/sense/clarity then it is redundant. [/QUOTE] rob said:
This is a good site:
http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/426348/2805.htm
Click to expand...

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".
Click to expand...
 
Wysiwyg said:
Is there a `far` end, a `near`end, a middle `end` or just an end?
Click to expand...
lol - The Irish defence

reminds me of this one ...

 
2020hindsight said:
PS I still like that one ...

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

Wysiwyg said:
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?
Click to expand...

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

doris said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
What's another word for synonym?

or thesaurus for that matter?

btw, Did you know that "gullible" is not in the dictionary?
 
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.
 
2020hindsight said:
well rederob, again we disagree.. (I think the hyphen is essential) ...
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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".
 
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