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Thu 6 Sep, 2007 02:19 am
Thanks, Contrex.
To me, the comma after Thanks is required. However, I've seen it without one.
Am I correct that there should be one?
Many thanks
The comma is neccessary because you are addressing Contrex.
You see, Yoong, by using commas to set off the name of the person being spoken to/written to, you make it clear that that person is being "talked to" rather than "talked about".
Yoong--
"Thanks, Noddy." would be better.
Noddy24 wrote:Yoong--
"Thanks, Noddy." would be better.
It was a typo. I had always typed 'Thanks, ___ '. I will be more careful in future.
The older we get, the harder it is to differentiate "," and "."--but while our eyes may fail, our wisdom is increasing.
I don't understand what you are talking about, Noddy.
As I get older and my eyesight worsens, I find it more and more difficult to distinguish between periods and commas on a keyboard.
On the bright side, I'm getting wiser as a I age.
It is not because of my age. If you take a look, the period and comma keys are just side by side, so the chances of typing a period instead of a comma are pretty high. Moreover, the words are of small font, so I failed to detect the mistake. I think its my glasses need to be changed.
Best wishes.
etc
I am a bit confused with the usage of "etc".
A. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc.
B. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples etc.
Which is the correct one, with or without comma?
Thank you in advance.
I've seen both versions, so I would say that you can use a comma or leave it out.
Come here, please.
Some writers use a comma after 'here', while others do not.
So I think in modern English, the tendency is to leave the comma out.
Mr. Nice - B.
Yoong - are you TTH in disguise?
Huh? Where did that come from Mame
Neither of you have much of a sense of humour... that's all.
Thank you very much, Mame.
Mame wrote:Neither of you have much of a sense of humour... that's all.
I do sometimes but, I kinda lost some of it because of 3 recent deaths.
Re: etc
Mr Nice wrote:I am a bit confused with the usage of "etc".
A. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc.
B. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples etc.
Which is the correct one, with or without comma?
Thank you in advance.
First, you shouldn't split the period from the abbreviation in "...etc". The period here goes inside the closing quotation mark.
Second, I'd put the comma after pineapples. (There may be some debate about this.)
Third, keep in mind that a comma follows "etc." when it falls in the middle of a sentence. For example, "I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc., during the summer months."
Re: etc
Roberta wrote:Mr Nice wrote:I am a bit confused with the usage of "etc".
A. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc.
B. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples etc.
Which is the correct one, with or without comma?
Thank you in advance.
First, you shouldn't split the period from the abbreviation in "...etc". The period here goes inside the closing quotation mark.
Second, I'd put the comma after pineapples. (There may be some debate about this.)
Third, keep in mind that a comma follows "etc." when it falls in the middle of a sentence. For example, "I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc., during the summer months."
Thank you very much, Roberta.
So, the comma is debatable.
It's called the series or serial comma. It's the comma that precedes the "and" in a list of three of more things.
I like red, green, and blue.
I like red, green and blue.
Generally, in the US, magazines and newspapers do not use the serial comma: I like red, green and blue.
Book publishers generally do use the serial comma: I like red, green, and blue.
Exception: When the list has more than one thing in each list item, the serial comma is needed for the sake of clarity:
I like red and blue, green and yellow, and pink and purple.
Without the serial comma here, things can get confusing:
I like red and blue, green and yellow and pink and purple.
Re: etc
Roberta wrote:Mr Nice wrote:I am a bit confused with the usage of "etc".
A. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc.
B. I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples etc.
Which is the correct one, with or without comma?
Thank you in advance.
First, you shouldn't split the period from the abbreviation in "...etc". The period here goes inside the closing quotation mark.
Second, I'd put the comma after pineapples. (There may be some debate about this.)
Third, keep in mind that a comma follows "etc." when it falls in the middle of a sentence. For example, "I like oranges, watermelons, pineapples, etc., during the summer months."
Roberta, what is the rationale for the comma after "etc." in example three?
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