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[CarolynSD]

This post has been deleted.

[MrGreedy]

Worth going just to meet the lovely Carolyn

[Guest]

[s]CarolynSD wrote on 19:15, 31st Oct 2003:[i]
I know there is alot on tonite

Just to let you no the word 'alot' does not exist - the correct version is 'a lot'.

[Valen_gr]

Sorry Carolyn, missed it

[Creep]

I met a ghost. She bit me. In the wrong place.

[CarolynSD]

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[Al]

"Just to let you no the word 'alot' does not exist - the correct version is 'a lot'."

I can't help thinking that the use of "no" for "know" in a sentence correcting someone else's spelling was not that good an idea.

[hr]Life is too important to be taken seriously.

[Kibet]

[s]Al wrote on 10:16, 1st Nov 2003:
I can't help thinking that the use of "no" for "know" in a sentence correcting someone else's spelling was not that good an idea.


maybe they use silenter K's and W's than the rest of us . i might be wrong though so maybe the ghosts stole them.

the purpose of words is for communication, it doesn't matter if alot was used as people would still know it was alot. hey i use alot as well, i never realised that before.

if people said "two mouses ate my cheese", although not gramatically correct, will people not still imagine two mice eating the cheese?

[Anon.]

[s]CarolynSD wrote on 08:14, 1st Nov 2003:
and I think in the USA "a lot" has dropped out of literal metaphor usage into real word-dom as "alot",

I don't. It's like inappropriate use of the apostrophe - widespread, but nevertheless incorrect. Still.

though spell-checker still tells me I am wrong.

I think that's probably because you are wrong

Oh, and "tonite"??

[CarolynSD]

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[CarolynSD]

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[PurelySynthetic]

Oh my god - yet another thread changed into the fights over grammar, spelling etc. etc.
Couple of questions, 'cause i know nothing about these issues!
1. Can you have one word sentences?
2. When using something in brackets at the end of a sentence where does the full stop go? Inside or outside the brackets? eg. (this). or (this.)

[Foolish Pedant]

[s]CarolynSD wrote on 13:16, 1st Nov 2003:
ahh and anyhow the line between "widely used and incorrect" and "correct" is a fuzzy one-dictionaries only partly set the standard, and partly reflect common usage...think of "underwear" or "Halloween"-one was under wear and one was Hallowed evening(??) but now both are proper spellings...I would say your claim is contentious at best.

[hr]Om Mani Padme Hung


Carolyn, "tonite" is an explosive compound. So yes, it's a valid spelling, but used out of context in your case.

Originally "the Eve of All Hallows", it has been shortened to Hallowe'en (with apostrophe).

I find it rather sad that the English language has been developed for so many hundreds of years, as a way of expressing exactly what we mean; as a means to get what's in our heads into other people's heads.

There are enough words out there for one to be able to convey an idea without any ambiguity or confusion. Why disregard this wonderful development of the language with a simple "well you knew what I meant to say"?

[CarolynSD]

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[Anon.]

Whyever does "She smiles a lot" not make sense?

[MrGreedy]

To answer the brackets (or parentheses) question, the location of the full stop depends on whether or not a parenthetical comment is part of a larger sentence. If so, the full stop should appear after the second parenthesis (as here).
(When the entire sentence is parenthetical, as here, the full stop should appear inside the final parenthesis.)

For anyone who finds themselves worrying about these things (Saint copy-editors perhaps?), I highly recommend Bill Bryson's "Troublesome Words" as a guide to some of the stickier aspects of English usage - before all his travel writing he was a sub-editor on the Times.

[immunodiffusion]

[s]PurelySynthetic wrote on 13:35, 1st Nov 2003:
1. Can you have one word sentences?

No, for a set of words to be a sentence it should include a subject, object and verb. So the most simple sentence would have 3 words - eg "Mark hit Martin". Longer sentences are just modifications of this basic idea, adding in extra modifiers and subclauses, but still including a subject, object and verb

[Thackary]

I would have said that a sentence needs to contain at the very least a verb.

"Go!"

[Divining Lemming]

sentences do not require objects: ie 'Tony collapsed'. valid sentence. Imperatives eg 'Stop!' am fairly certain acceptable as one word sentences, since subject/object implicit in context of use

[MrGreedy]

Whether or not a verb needs an object depends on if it's transitive or intransitive. An intransitive verb doesn't have an object, e.g. "Bob slept" or "Tony collapsed" (as above).
A transitive verb follows the standard pattern outlined by immunodiffusion.