TurboKitty

Quite bizarre, I feel, but according to this link

"Unless you are confident, you should try to avoid starting sentences with words such as 'Again', 'Although', 'But', 'And', 'Also', and 'With'. These are conjunctions which are normally used for joining together two or more separate clauses."


Why should one's confidence or lack thereof affect whether they should begin a sentence with a conjunction?

And what if they are confident about one aspect of themselves, but not others?




Oops, edited to fix broken link.

[Edited by TurboKitty - 2/26/2003 12:50:18 PM]

Mice_Elf

Depending on the word in question, I use a mixture of -ise and -ize.

People and spell checkers also correct my -xion usage too.

One even tried to change it to Xian, totally ignoring the "conne-" bit in front....

TelBoy

Who uses "an" instead of "a" before words beginning with h?

And who bothers with the circumflex (sp?) accent on the o in hotel?

I do, sadly, although most people assume it's a mistake, especially if you type an hotel together..!!

Hehehe. The most edited thread ever on Scoobynet?!

[Edited by TelBoy - 2/26/2003 12:51:04 PM]

TurboKitty

I use 'an' before words beginning with 'h', although occasionally I do **** up and get it wrong. My proof-reading skills suck.

ProperCharlie

that's a funny one, Tel.

An historic occassion is quite frequently used (mainly by BBC newsreaders, admittedly), but I don't remember hearing an hotel, an hearing aid, an Harvester Restaurant, an hot-dog or anything like that. Right now I quite fancy getting myself an hamburger, though.

TurboKitty

(sp?)?!

Tel, I am shocked and disappointed! I never expected to see that from you!

/me faints and is carted back to hospital.

ProperCharlie

surely it is to do with whether the h is pronounced or not? no-one says "a hour" but everyone says "a hospital".

TelBoy

LOL at ProperCharlie!

Indeed, another of these dimly-defined "rules"..!!
I'm not sure where "an" is appropriate and where it isn't, but you're right, historic seems to be the most common victim of the "an" treatment!!

And to TK!!! Was my spelling in fact correct??

TurboKitty

*click*
*whir*

I am sorry but TurboKitty is unable to respond to your question as she is currently receiving medical attention as a result of a severe shock.

If you wish to send flowers, grapes or gadgets to aid convalescence, please do so.

TurboKitty thanks you for your interest and wishes to assure you that, once recovered, she will be hitting speed-dial number 1 and suing the tail off the party responsible.

This answering machine does not record messages.

Thank you.

*click*

carl

Are you sure there's a circumflex on h๔tel?
I always use one when spelling r๔le

AlexM

Hi,

I blame the Microsoft 'Natural' keyboard I am trying to get used to for the obvious typos in my previous post
Mis-spelling 'grammatical' - how can you top that for an own-goal

Cheers,

Alex


[Edited by AlexM - 2/26/2003 1:14:19 PM]

carl

Shall we move on to pronunciation now.....

For a start, in RP we should always say "gels" instead of "girls"

TurboKitty

RP means role-playing to me, which is fine , but I'm not certain it's what you meant.

carl

Received Pronunciation -- until that Welsh bloke appeared, it was how BBC newsreaders were supposed to speak

TelBoy

carl, you know, i think you're on to something there. I think in fact it was role i'm thinking of - it's been so long since i actually wrote either of those words that i haven't had to think about it. This keyboard doesn't give me the option. Isn't there also a word which, strictly speaking, has the squiggly accent underneath it's "c"? Not even going to attempt a spelling of that one!! Can't remember what that one is now either. Hmmm.

(TK, are you ok? )

TurboKitty

Am I ever OK?

TurboKitty

Waddaya mean it doesn't give you the option?

๔๔๔๔๔

TurboKitty

Alt+0244

TelBoy

TK, eh? What do i need to type? This *is* a Bloomberg keyboard though, so it might not do exactly what you expect it to...

TurboKitty

The squiggle under a c is called a cedilla.



Some people!

TelBoy

Aha. That's why all my searching under "s" proved fruitless! Knew it was something like that! Come to think of it, why would an accent that you put under a "c" begin with an "s"?? What was i thinking??!!

Can you produce a cedilla on your keyboard too?

TurboKitty

Alt codes can be used to type characters not shown on a standard keyboard.

The Number Lock should be on. You need to hold down the Alt key and type the code, (in this case 0244), on the numeric keypad on the right-hand side of the keyboard.

Not sure if it'll work on your freaky keyboard though.

The character map app in Accessories also has a copy function so can be used to copy characters not on a keyboard and paste them into applications.

[Edited by TurboKitty - 2/26/2003 1:49:29 PM]

TurboKitty

These?

็็็็็

TelBoy

๔

Well, bu88er me!!!

What's the cedilla?

Or the joined a/e in encyclopaedia? Or an umlaut?

TurboKitty

To use Character Map:

Find it.
Open it.
Double click the characters you want to paste so they appear in the 'characters to copy:' field.
Click the copy button
Switch to Scoobynet, or whichever app you want to paste into.
Position the cursor in the desired location.
Hold the CTRL key and press v to paste.

[Edited by TurboKitty - 2/26/2003 1:49:11 PM]

TurboKitty

Tel, check Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools to see if you have Character Map. It'll give you the Alt codes for all of those characters and many, many more.

TurboKitty

'c' with cedilla - Alt+0231
Joined up 'a' and 'e' - Alt+0230 (or Alt+0198 for capital)
German double ‘s’ – Alt+0223
‘a’ with umlaut – Alt+0228 (or Alt+0196 for capital)
‘e’ with umlaut – Alt+0235 (or Alt+0203 for capital)
‘i’ with umlaut – Alt+0239 (or Alt+0207 for capital)
‘o’ with umlaut – Alt+0246 (or Alt+0214 for capital)
‘u’ with umlaut – Alt+0252 (or Alt+0220 for capital)


[Edited by TurboKitty - 2/26/2003 1:46:03 PM]

Mice_Elf

Again, depends on the word in question, but I also say "an hotel".


I would disagree with the bit where you shouldn't start a sentence with "with".

With whom are you going to the cinema? is a far better construct than Who you going to the cinema with?

speedking

Agree 100% that the quality of english is very important and has declined significantly. I can remember the time when a paper like the Times had no spelling or grammatical errors, it seems now that there is at least one per page

Just to add a little more humorous 'help':

Some guidelines for aspiring writers.
(Cribbed from the internet)
1 Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
2 Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3 And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4 It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5 Avoid clich้s like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6 Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7 Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
8 Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9 Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
10 One should never generalise.
11 Comparisons are as bad as clich้s.
12 Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
13 The passive voice is to be avoided.
14 Eliminate commas, that are not necessary.
15 Never use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice.
16 Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earthshaking ideas.
17 Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
18 Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
19 Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
20 Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement. And finally...
21 Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

TurboKitty

Alt codes here.

[Edited by TurboKitty - 2/26/2003 1:59:26 PM]