Reusable shopping bags...

[Mikey]

Fuck it...why do I even bother.

I wonder why you do as well -- if you're going to go to all the trouble to post, you should include the few extra words it takes to take the virtual marbles out of your mouth and make sense.

The marbles are in your brain.

[Dinsdale]

Fuck it...why do I even bother.

I wonder why you do as well -- if you're going to go to all the trouble to post, you should include the few extra words it takes to take the virtual marbles out of your mouth and make sense.

The marbles are in your brain.

Did you ship them to me from your home in KC?

[Mikey]

When did you move to Madison?

[Goober McTuber]

Nice little hair-pulling contest.

[Dinsdale]

Sorry Dins, you jumped the wrong way on this one. Try to follow along . . .

Oh, I thought we'd all agreed that we use English here?

It would probably be a net increase in jobs if plastic bags were replaced by reusable cloth. I know of a place in SoCal that produces over 800,000,000 bags a year (yes, that's 800 million and I imagine there are a few more like it) and the whole process takes probably half a dozen people to run.

The subject of the second sentence is "bags." Which kind of bags were the subject? It wasn't specified, which defaults to the last subject that was specified.

Why don't you read that again, and with your new education in sentence structure, see if you can figure out where Mikey screwed up. You should be able to ace this test.

[Mikey]

which defaults to the last subject that was specified.

i.e. plastic bags, the subject of the previous sentence.

My bad...the subject of this tortuously constructed sentence was "it".

[Smackie Chan]

It would probably be a net increase in jobs if plastic bags were replaced by reusable cloth. I know of a place in SoCal that produces over 800,000,000 bags a year (yes, that's 800 million and I imagine there are a few more like it) and the whole process takes probably half a dozen people to run.

The subject of the second sentence is "bags."

OK, since we're getting all grammatically technical, the subject of the second sentence is "I." "Bags" is the object of the preposition over.

I know...you weren't using subject in the grammatical sense here. Sometimes, one has to be adaptable to understand what is being said 'round these parts. There's the Queen's English, American English, and T1Benglish.

I understood Mikey was referring to disposable plastic, cuz I'm all adaptable & stuff.

[Mikey]

There's something to be said for "context."

(Did I get the closing quote in the right place?)

[Smackie Chan]

(Did I get the closing quote in the right place?)

Yes, and your positioning of the question mark within the parentheses is also impeccable. Props.

[Smackie Chan]

(Did I get the closing quote in the right place?)

your positioning of the question mark within the parentheses is also impeccable.

Nishlord and I would argue that. :grin:

(Most people understand that the final punctuation must remain inside the closing parenthesis mark, like this.)

[Mikey]

Oh hell, don't I know it!

Being such a stickler for proper spelling and punctuation, I was stunned to find that that was the case. I may be the one and only person who actually learned something in here! All these years of doing it incorrectly...

My only consolation was discovering that, in the UK, closing the sentence with the period outside the parentheses is considered correct.

(However we are not in the UK, are we then.)?

[Mikey]

Is that what they're calling the SEC West now?

[Van]

(Did I get the closing quote in the right place?)

your positioning of the question mark within the parentheses is also impeccable.

Nishlord and I would argue that. :grin:

Maybe you would, but Nishlord certainly wouldn't. Under no circumstances and in no variant of proper English would this ever be deemed correct: (Did I get the closing quote in the right place)?

When the question is posed within the parenthesis, which it is in that example, the question mark also goes in the parenthesis. The only time the question mark goes outside the parenthesis is when the portion that is within the parenthesis is not a question, as in: "So, as you were sorting through the loose rubies, did you come up with any favorites (not the purple ones, obviously)?"

[Van]

Why would you have ever deviated from that manner? It's the only acceptable one, on either side of the Pond. Are you sure you weren't confusing parentheses with quotation marks? Yes, in British English they apply different thinking concerning punctuation with quotation marks, but their rules regarding punctuation with parentheses are the same as ours.

[Mikey]

OK this topic has definitely jumped the shark (I'll be bidding adieu.).

[Mikey]

OK this topic has definitely jumped the shark (I'll be bidding adieu.).

Here ya' go, Mikey. This one stays on topic all the way thru three pages: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41492

:wink:


Reusable shopping bags becomes punctuation lessons.

Freaks who torture and amputate becomes the plight of the Palestinians and Israel's horridness.


It's life at T1B...as well as any conversation with me according to everyone who knows me. So this is normal to me. I like it.

I gave up on that one a long time ago.

[Van]

No, I've been told in here a couple of times that the period, question mark, whatever always goes inside the parentheses if at the end of a sentence.

And that is correct. If what's included within the parenthesis is a sentence, then yes, it requires sentence-ending punctuation. In that case, the main sentence still requires its own sentence-ending punctuation.

Whereas I have always placed the sentence-ending punctuation outside the parentheses.

Which is also correct, but that doesn't change the rules regarding punctuation with parenthetical phrases.

Apparently I need to move it inside in some cases. But it also goes outside (as I have always done) in certain cases.

Yep, and it's really simple: If the parenthetical aside is a full sentence, it receives proper ending punctuation. If it isn't, it doesn't. In those instances, the punctuation remains outside the parenthesis to conclude the main sentence. Either way, the main sentence always requires sentence-ending punctuation outside the parenthetical section.

This is never correct: I like most shades of red (but I hate fuchsia.)

Can't have the main sentence conclude without its own ending punctuation.

It would need to be written: I like most shades of red. (But I hate fuchsia.)

or...

I like most shades of red (except fuchsia).

As you can see, that would be another case of needlessly employing parentheses. So often people use parentheses in place of a much more appropriate comma, but that's a separate issue.

[Van]

OK this topic has definitely jumped the shark (I'll be bidding adieu.).

Here ya' go, Mikey. This one stays on topic all the way thru three pages: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41492

:wink:

Reusable shopping bags becomes punctuation lessons.

Freaks who torture and amputate becomes the plight of the Palestinians and Israel's horridness.

It's life at T1B....

A recurring phenomenon that is spelled out right at the top of every page here...

Only at T1B can a thread about illiteracy quickly morph into pics of dirigible-sportin' pneumatic bimbos proudly hoisting dead pairs of fish.

[Cuda]

Not only will I be requesting plastic bags at the G-store from now on, im going to immediately use them to litter throughout San Diego afterward while LMAO. No joke.


Fucking tedius old assholes.

That fucking gets a RACK!

[Screw_Michigan]

Not only will I be requesting plastic bags at the G-store from now on, im going to immediately use them to litter throughout San Diego afterward while LMAO. No joke.


Fucking tedius old assholes.

That fucking gets a RACK!

Just like n066s racking other no66s who burn down their own communities, you're definitely dumb enough to rack him.