They can't spell, either.

[deird1]

Do you ever find yourself; wondering why people don’t understand punctuation. Its not really, that, hard. but for some reason they get the idea into their head’s that it works sort of like this paragraph where punctuation is slotted in: randomly; although actually I haven”t punctuated this sentence, randomly. These are all excellent examples of the way punctuation has been used in the document Im’ currently editing.. Except that-s worse than this is.


*winces* (Sorry about that, folks.)

But seriously – it’s dreadful. According to the document writers:
- semicolons are used to set the first few words in the sentence apart from the rest, and also to begin lists (where I would use a colon).
- apostrophes are used to designate plurals.
- commas are pretty, and should be scattered all over the page like delicate ornamentation.


I also want to tie them down and force them to learn the difference between “eg” and “ie”. At gunpoint, if necessary.

Comments

[velvetwhip]

I feel your pain.


Gabrielle

[rahirah]

I once earnestly set out to teach a guy for whom I was betaing how to use semicolons. A friend and I sat him down and went through Grammar 101. We explained about periods and commas and run-on sentences. We were clear. We were passionate. At last we introduced (drumroll) The Semicolon. He thanked us profusely and said he really understood it all now.

A few weeks later he handed us a story containing all his old punctuation errors plus a liberal sprinkling of random semicolons on every page. (This was back when fic was printed on actual pages.)

We gave up.

[padawanspider.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder if they aren't all fluent in C and/or C related languages. That would explain quite a bit.

[trouble]

GIP

[redsixwing]

-commas are pretty, and should be scattered all over the page like delicate ornamentation.

LOL!

I'm sorry you're having to deal with a rogue punctuator.

They can't spell, either

[(Anonymous)]

Have you come across The Great Typo Hunt, by Jeff Deck? I've just started it, and I'm finding the style sometimes a little grating. Still, you can't help but appreciate lines like

'I noted a stack of business card with a troubling interpretation of the word referral. "Referal"! To think that one little letter could mean the difference between directing someone to the help they needed and...returning to savagery?'

anonymous

[(Anonymous)]

And because I forgot that I was anonymous, I'm Amaryllis.