Important notice from the GRAMMAR POLICE. Plz read. This means you.
Terribletegs:
Quote from: DrNerd on 2009 July 01, 00:30:10
Actually, according to the style guide I used when I taught, there was no right or wrong when it came to spacing and capitalization following a colon. It was more a stylistic choice, with the possible exception of a list after a colon, where the accepted punctuation is colon, space, lower-case letter.
Agreed.
http://www.englishchick.com/grammar/grpunc.htm
http://www1.umn.edu/urelate/style/punctuation.html#Anchor-Back-30815
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/colons.asp
Liz:
Quote from: Nimrod on 2009 July 01, 00:03:28
In conclusion, stop TAKING shit. Seems like you uppity grammar types would refuse "take(ing) a shit" in preference to "excrete excrement" or "going to defecate" or "off to pass stool" or "make in the (use the) ((toilet)insert geographical slant/slang here), or some such shit otherwise.
LOLwhut? Stop TALKING shit, Numbnuts.
Sairsadel:
The discussion about "a water" reminds me of Arthur Ransome's use of the phrase "a sea" in his book "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea" (1937):
"A sea broke over her bows, and sheets of water flew up over the cabin roof, into the mainsail, and splashed down over the struggling figures in the cockpit."
I think Liz's reasoning applies here, so it's another example of the same thing.
rufio:
Quote from: Sairsadel on 2009 July 01, 09:28:52
The discussion about "a water" reminds me of Arthur Ransome's use of the phrase "a sea" in his book "We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea" (1937):
Except not really, since "sea" is a regular count noun with a regularly formed plural. The fact that it's "a sea" rather than "the sea" just sounds like there's an implied "of water" there.
In my experience, "a water/lemonade/juice/etc." is mostly limited to restaurants, where it refers to a specific standardized drink order. At home I wouldn't say, "I'm going to get a water" unless I was referring to an unopened bottle of water or one of many pre-prepared glasses of water, as opposed to, say, filling up a glass from the sink.
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: rufio on 2009 July 01, 14:03:36
Except not really, since "sea" is a regular count noun with a regularly formed plural. The fact that it's "a sea" rather than "the sea" just sounds like there's an implied "of water" there.
Saying "A" sea instead of "THE" sea makes me envision an entire sea flooding into some hapless boat, exploding it and sinking it in tiny scattered pieces instantly. *A* sea, to me, refers to a singular specific sea, which can be quite large, even for a small sea, as opposed to "the sea", referring to the ocean unspecifically, or "the seas", referring to the collective oceans.
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