Comments on: Weekly Word Count: January 22

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:16:09 +0000

As I told you earlier, Iris, for you, there’s nothing wrong with #2. Sorry for being tricksie…it wasn’t intentional.

On #4, for a non-native speaker, not recognizing the proper suffix for 3/32 is not surprising–considering a native speaker and writer wrote that example. Just another argument for adopting the metric system in the US, in my judgment!

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:09:43 +0000

On #2, the comma before the quoted phrase isn’t strictly required, as it’s not part of dialogue, but it’s not wrong to put it there, either.

You nailed the rest, as well.

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:08:08 +0000

Yes, to all. For #2, I was hung up on the “th” suffix, and didn’t even realize the hyphen was missing; however, I did include it in my answers, below.

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:02:35 +0000

The Answers

1. … prevent them from dieing …
“dieing,” believe it or not, is not an English word; “dying” is correct

2. You’ll commonly hear “bring the player, not the class”.
I said there were no gotchas, but if you’re not American, this one was: In the US, proper usage is to place the period (full stop) inside the quotation mark. Elsewhere, the period is outside. (The quote is from an American writer.)

3. If someone is moving better then I [am]
“then” should be “than”

4. some 3/32th inch elastic cord
This one involves “ordinal suffixes”–1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th…. In this case, it’s “three thirty-seconds-inch cord,” so it should have been written 3/32nd. Better yet: “3/32-in” or 3/32″

5. The traffic to the server is increased massively since Christmas, it looks like there are no end of people
Probably the worst example, and from a professional blogger. The way I’d rewrite this sentence is, “The traffic to the server has increased considerably since Christmas. It looks like there is no end of people….”
This is a classic example of a “comma splice,” and almost anything except a comma is preferred. Because I can’t really decide between a colon or a semicolon, though, I played it safe with a period.

6. See if your a Canadian or … can count on always having on in your party
I just realized there is a bit of a gotcha here; I missed it earlier. Here’s the way the sentence should be written; the words in [square brackets] are not part of the sentence, but are “understood” to be there:

[You] see, if you’re a Canadian or … [you] can count on always having one in your party….

Frankly, I’d probably start the sentence with “If.” The mini-gotcha is to place a comma after “see.” And note that spell-checking would not have corrected “on” to “one.”

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:41:31 +0000

Believe me, the honor, and the privilege, are all mine, dear lady. Not to mention, I had a total blast doing this for you (and for me). I learned so much–stuff I wish I’d known when I was helping Bre and Iris.

The good news is, now I do know it, so the next projects will be done even better!

By: Kestrel

Kestrel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:39:33 +0000

Bienvenue!

While a colon wouldn’t be wrong, as I told Bre, above, no punctuation isn’t wrong, either.

I can certainly see how you’d substitute “a” in place of “some” but if you had the larger context, you’d realize “some” is the desired word here. The key was the ordinal suffix.

By: Iris

Iris — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:30:19 +0000

1. “Dieing” is not a word. “Dying” is.
2. Stumped. I kinda have the feeling that “commonly” is not properly used here, maybe should be replaced by “often” or something. But not sure.
3. “Then” is not the correct word here. “Than” is what should be used, since the connection is not temporal but causal.
4. What is the number supposed to be, anyway? Not-understandable.
5. “No end of the people” is wrong, should be “to the people”.
6. I guess this is supposed to say “always having one in your party”?
Iris´s latest blog post is Blog Transmitted Disease

By: Tami

Tami — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:51:14 +0000

*warms at all the Choose-osity* <3

I cheated and read the other answers, so I won't try to post my own. Too hard to separate what I caught and what I read at this point.

As I've said in emails, I am honored that you're helping me with the copyediting on Choose. I've already made serious headway in correcting my dash addiction!
Tami´s latest blog post is New Flash Fiction Up

By: Hugmenot

Hugmenot — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:26:51 +0000

1. dying not dieing
2. Missing a colon after hear
3. than not then
4. a not some
5. has increased not is increeased, and and instead of a comma
6. you’re not your, and having one not having on

The number of French Canadians attending your party is now greater than zero.

By: Bre

Bre — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:03:53 +0000

1. dying not dieing
2. Looks like there is a comma missing from before the quotations marks and the period should be inside.
3.Like Kriz, not totally sure, the wording it a little awkward, though it should be than not then.
4. No idea
5.Looks like a tense issue. Should it be “has increased massively since Christmas” instead of ” is increased” ? Also, I think a semi colon might be better than comma.
6. you’re instead of your and one instead of on.

And I am sure I missed a couple, but hey it was fun to try!
Bre´s latest blog post is Comment on Saucy Writing Prompt: Stamp, Glorious and Barrel by Bre