Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Mama Luigi on March 17, 2010, 02:31:59 am
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I was arguing with a friend regarding a billboard lacking grammar because I'm a fucking nerd. I'm curious as to which punctuation marks would make the following sentence grammatically correct?:
God's finest creation a baby!
I said that the following are valid grammatical sentences:
God's finest creation: a baby!
God's finest creation — a baby!
He said the following were valid:
God's finest creation; a baby!
God's finest creation — a baby!
He texted his girlfriend, and she said only
God's finest creation; a baby!
was valid.
Who is right, and more importantly how badly are America's school systems failing when people believe this is the place for a semicolon?
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well its not a sentence to begin with, because theres no verb, so grammar seems a little moot.
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God's finest creation: a baby! (right)
God's finest creation — a baby! (also right)
God's finest creation; a baby! (wrong. semicolons are placed in between two independent clauses)
well its not a sentence to begin with, because theres no verb, so grammar seems a little moot.
the verb (is) is implied with either the colon or the dash, in this case.
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Wow I suppose I hadn't thought of that. I mean I knew that... it's so primary and how could I have overlooked that?... man.
Suppose it said "God's finest creation is a baby!" Well. I suppose that would need no grammar adjustment as that's already a complete sentence... right?
EDIT: Ahh, Pasty sort of beat me to it.
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Pasty is correct. I wanted to be the one to post here, I wanted to be the english buff!!
Next time Rajew....next time...
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It's more of an implied "THAT IS"
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"God's finest creation? A baby!" is a different way to say it but mostly in spoken English; it's clumsy in written English
remember that these rules can be bent for literary effect! (a whole different ball game)
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IT IS TIME FOR FAUSTY TO STEAL THE STAGE MAYBE!?!?
I actually teach English at a secondary school over here in the U.K. (alongside History, Media Studies and OH NO PSHE!!!) Maybe I can ASSIST!
God's finest creation; a baby!
This is totally wrong. A semicolon links two sentences, neither of which are dependent on the other to make sense. "God's finest creation: a baby!" would be correct, due to the fact that the latter section is dependent on the former.
A hyphen would also be fine in this context, but NEVER A SEMICOLON!!
...Although on reading your post a second time, I've come to realise that you already knew this. Either way, consider it clarification that your friend and his girlfriend are perverts and foreigners.
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Do you mean a dash faust? I don't think a hyphen would ever be fine there. Freakin english teachers huh!!
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I remember one time, an English teacher in high school told me this sage advice:
"NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER use a semicolon. None of you will EVER know how to use one correctly. Except [Rajew]. But he's a nerd."
And this is when I learned I went to the best high school.
Also! Faust I wanted to teach English but for some reason I'm going to school for Computer Science instead; You're a lucky man!
(watch as I use it embarrassingly wrong)
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I agree with Mama Luigi's assessment; he's the only one who's correct.
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Do you mean a dash faust? I don't think a hyphen would ever be fine there. Freakin english teachers huh!!
Fuck calling it a 'dash'. That makes it sound like it is A RUSHED AND BOTCHED JOB. I do not approve of this "dash".
Faust I wanted to teach English but for some reason I'm going to school for Computer Science instead; You're a lucky man!
Diagnosis: CORRECT! You'd be well on your way to a juicy A-grade here. I only have a few students who can use a semicolon correctly, which is not a surprise considering that the majority of the adult population in this country don't understand the simple apostrophe.
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FUCK, I just had a look at dashes and hyphens and apparently they're different things.
I AM THE SHITTEST TEACHER IN THE WORLD! I've been forcing my groups to call them hyphens...but then again, so have some of my colleagues.
DIAGNOSIS: FAILURE.
...Although, to be fair, no one at school will ever challenge me on it so PRESTIGE PRESERVED!!
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Welcome to Faust's English Class! Today we'll be learning about "XD" as punctuation!
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faust you should pick up on it in the staff room and earn extra brownie points
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God's finest creation, a baby!
that works perfectly well without all this colon bullshit
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not on its own
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a comma, semicolon, and colon would all be incorrect. it's saddening that many people don't know how to use a semicolon properly; i think they're a wonderful piece of punctuation. by the way, rajew, you don't capitalize the first word after a semicolon; it should be lowercase, like this. i love grammar (although lol slack grammatical style on forums of course).
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please explain why a colon would be wrong!
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here's Quentin Tarantino giving an interview in a Wu Wear hoodie and backwards hat
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faust you should pick up on it in the staff room and earn extra brownie points
Dude, if I mentioned punctuation in the staffroom I'd be SCORNED! The English Office maybe, but the staffroom is for discussions about television, other staff members, badnik students, and who has what SAMMIJES.
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Using a semicolon isn't hard; I once saw Quentin Tarantino do it.
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Using a semicolon isn't hard; I once saw Quentin Tarantino do it.
YOU DID IT WRONG!!!
"I once saw Quentin Tarantino do it." is dependent I'm pretty sure because otherwise what is it? It alone doesn't mean anything, that sentence depends on the first sentence to make sense. YOU USED A SEMICOLON WRONG!!
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YOU DID IT WRONG!!!
"I once saw Quentin Tarantino do it." is dependent I'm pretty sure because otherwise what is it? It alone doesn't mean anything, that sentence depends on the first sentence to make sense. YOU USED A SEMICOLON WRONG!!
No, "I saw him do it" is a perfectly valid example of an independent clause. It contains one subject (I) and one predicate (saw him do it). If I'm not mistaken (help me out here Faust) "him do it" functions as the direct object of the verb "saw".
For a sentence to be independent it doesn't necessarily have to make a lot of sense to the reader. An example of a dependent clause that can't be used in conjunction with a semicolon would be something like "When I saw him do it", which can't really be parsed in any meaningful way without an additional independent clause, e.g. "When I saw him do it, I remembered the trick."
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Why bother arguing over a stupid billboard?
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Thanks Dada I'm dumb! I like to make up my own rules for things, that's my problem!
sorry EDC, sorry EDC!!
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dada is dutch and he can do this
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No, "I saw him do it" is a perfectly valid example of an independent clause. It contains one subject (I) and one predicate (saw him do it). If I'm not mistaken (help me out here Faust) "him do it" functions as the direct object of the verb "saw".
For a sentence to be independent it doesn't necessarily have to make a lot of sense to the reader. An example of a dependent clause that can't be used in conjunction with a semicolon would be something like "When I saw him do it", which can't really be parsed in any meaningful way without an additional independent clause, e.g. "When I saw him do it, I remembered the trick."
You're actually right there dada. As long as it's grammatically correct as an independent sentence then it's absolutely fine. Again we have a situation where JOHNNY FOREIGNER knows the rules our language much better than 99% of its native speakers.
...Although, counting on Faust to help you out of a grammar situation is probably a bit like asking Tony Soprano for advice on being a good father! He thinks he's the shit, but it turns out he's just a massive douchebag!
Still, as long as the government keeps cutting those pay cheques!!!!!
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That's because 99% of students think the same thing I thought about Dutch class: that it's stupid to spend time learning to use your native language. English, French and German were all interesting, but spending 4 hours a week learning to tell a fable from a parable just isn't my idea of a good time.
The sad thing is it's really, really necessary these days.
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I usually follow the rules laid down in my copy of Elements of Style (http://www.bartleby.com/141/) (AKA Strunk & White) with a few exceptions. I recommend it to everyone as a basic guide.
Informal writing is much more flexible than formal writing, but I try to keep it concise and clear.
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God's finest creation...a baby!
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Good English Class.
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A baby is God's finest creation. simple and correct. just rid those colons and sh*t