Things that make you go GRRRRR.... (Part 2)

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BradleyTX26

New member
not my area. tends to be outside of the capital (the province of BA as opposed to the city of BA), which is where people drown to death every year. does occasionally happen inside the capital, but it's not as common.
 
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Paper

Member
I've been taught two ways to use a "," in a specific way. What I've learned is that some professors like the "," before the word "and" when there are two different subjects in a sentence, and some do not.

I failed to realize my current professor does not like the "," before "and" in a sentence, therefore on my midterm I lost a considerable amount of points on a portion of the test involving coofftopic placement. I expressed this to her and she said "well now you know how to do it right?"

Of course I just said, "Yep." but I really wanted to say, "No, what I've learned is people who teach English still can't decide whether there should be a coofftopic before "and," and although I've always seen both being accepted you clearly do not."
 
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JoanneW

Member
I want to show her your post and insist why it's acceptable to use a coofftopic before 'and' as a general rule. I think more mistakes would be made trying to not do it.

I got quite a few points knocked off for it. I get perfect grades on my essays (literally) but when it comes to being super nit-picky about what is preferred by a professor compared to what works . . . . too bad for me.

I also did bad on sentence restructure. She wrote horrible sentences and we were supposed to catch on to taking just one word or two to make the sentence clearer. I thought that even after doing what was required the sentence sucked so I just wrote an entirely new one with the same subject/point. She didn't bit : P.
 
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BaLLa

Member
I don't use the coofftopic all the time. It depends on what I'm joining with the and, and the number of clauses in the sentence. I'm not aware of any hard and fast rules: it's not like the application of the terms less and fewer, and often a sentence can flow better as a result of breaking rules. Because American English isn't always the same as British English and attitudes to rule sets differ between individuals, it might be better simply to write according to the expectations of the assessor. My rule of thumb is that while the word 'and' can join disparate elements, it is not a coofftopic, and as a result if you feel a breathing space is required before the word so that it is used not as in 'bacon and eggs' but more in the sense of avoiding a full stop or colon, and yet allowing a common theme to prevail, then you should use the coofftopic.
 
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Apacapacas

New member
A landlord of the Pig and Whistle thought the words on his new sign were too close together.

He said to the sign writer, "I would like to see more space between pig and "and" and "and" and whistle".
 
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EponymousHero

New member
You're describing it exactly the way I understand it. I don't think it's a case of proper writing as it is conforming to what the professor thinks is the correct way to place coofftopics. If I brought my school stuff up from the car I would throw out some examples from the exam, maybe when I get back from boxing. Maybe I am just wrong?
 
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Goldfishy

New member
My osteopath is fighting in UFC 161! How am I supposed to get MY treatment when she's in fight camp! GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!


Just kidding obviously, I'm well chuffed for Rosi!
 
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