Vivi's back!

[Tesla]

Congratulations on your 15,000th post.

[The_P]

In your writing class, do you approve of your students beginning sentences with conjunctions such as "but" or "and"?

Are you a fan of the Oxford comma?

[Lucifer]

Congratulations on your 15,000th post.

yay!

thanks, sexy.   

[Lucifer]

In your writing class, do you approve of your students beginning sentences with conjunctions such as "but" or "and"?

depends - if it's appropriate to the narrative voice/genre, etc., then yes.   creative writing isn't an exact science, and one has to take into account all the different elements - voice, pov, characterisation, narratological style, genre, etc., etc.

Are you a fan of the Oxford comma?

no idea - what is it?

[The_P]

no idea - what is it?

It's basically an "up yours!" statement towards the current British system of making lists within a sentence.

British: Cats, dogs and birds.

American/Oxford: Cats, dogs, and birds.

[Lucifer]

again, it depends.  generally, no, as one doesn't put a comma after the last in a list.  but, again, sometimes, it's just "right" to do so.

you can see why marking undergrad folders is a bloody nightmare, can't you? 

[The_P]

again, it depends.  generally, no, as one doesn't put a comma after the last in a list.  but, again, sometimes, it's just "right" to do so.

you can see why marking undergrad folders is a bloody nightmare, can't you? 

Blame the abolition of teaching English grammar in our schools back in the sixties.

It's fucking ironic that you learn grammar from a language class.

[odeon]

In technical writing, British and American, the "Oxford comma", also known as the serial comma, is quite common and required by many style guides, as it helps separate the items listed. When I worked as an editor, forgetting that comma was a common error.

[The_P]

In technical writing, British and American, the "Oxford comma", also known as the serial comma, is quite common and required by many style guides, as it helps separate the items listed. When I worked as an editor, forgetting that comma was a common error.

However, when the list becomes extensive, I tend to rely on the underprivileged semi-colon.

[The_P]

Do the undergrads find trouble marking defining and non-defining clauses with the comma?

[odeon]

In technical writing, British and American, the "Oxford comma", also known as the serial comma, is quite common and required by many style guides, as it helps separate the items listed. When I worked as an editor, forgetting that comma was a common error.

However, when the list becomes extensive, I tend to rely on the underprivileged semi-colon.

Certainly, and also when the individual items themselves contain sub-items.

[Christopher McCandless]

Do the undergrads find trouble marking defining and non-defining clauses with the comma?

Knowing my peers, definitely

[Lucifer]

In technical writing, British and American, the "Oxford comma", also known as the serial comma, is quite common and required by many style guides, as it helps separate the items listed. When I worked as an editor, forgetting that comma was a common error.

However, when the list becomes extensive, I tend to rely on the underprivileged semi-colon.

that's for lists in which the items have more than one word, which is another way of putting wot de O Man said. 

Do the undergrads find trouble marking defining and non-defining clauses with the comma?

Knowing my peers, definitely

explain what you understand by defining and non-defining clauses, if you would, hadron.

[Christopher McCandless]

In technical writing, British and American, the "Oxford comma", also known as the serial comma, is quite common and required by many style guides, as it helps separate the items listed. When I worked as an editor, forgetting that comma was a common error.

However, when the list becomes extensive, I tend to rely on the underprivileged semi-colon.

that's for lists in which the items have more than one word, which is another way of putting wot de O Man said. 

Do the undergrads find trouble marking defining and non-defining clauses with the comma?

Knowing my peers, definitely

explain what you understand by defining and non-defining clauses, if you would, hadron.

Exactly, none of us do know what they are, out of all the people I know. Just another frivolity for pompous arseholes to use...

[Lucifer]

so what you're saying is that your comment "knowing my peers, definitely" is just another example of you being:

"a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

(from Macbeth by William Shakespeare.  even you may have heard of him - he's on Wiki).