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By the time I saw your post and could have started driving, the party would have been over. ;(

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In two weeks I'll do a course in the Red Cross and then I'll see if I can do some voluntary work for them? I just want to stay active in some way or other...:blink:

They say they need people to teach the elderly how to use a computer, something I think I can do?:erm:

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In two weeks I'll do a course in the Red Cross and then I'll see if I can do some voluntary work for them? I just want to stay active in some way or other...:blink:

They say they need people to teach the elderly how to use a computer, something I think I can do?:erm:

Do it. Do both things. Other things also. Do everything.

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In two weeks I'll do a course in the Red Cross and then I'll see if I can do some voluntary work for them? I just want to stay active in some way or other...:blink:

They say they need people to teach the elderly how to use a computer, something I think I can do?:erm:

Tanu, sorry to nitpick on grammar, but this has bothered me for a while. You've now replaced ellipses with question marks in your posts. I'm reading them like questions addressed to me (and other forumers). If in doubt, just use a period. That's the safe bet.

Good luck with the Red Cross thing!

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Maybe it's a Spanish thing ¿

Punctuation can, or is, sometimes complicated, but often quite logical. (I probably messed up somewhere.) Worst thing is that rules are often very different in different languages.

There's are quite some nice examples with commas. Like the "Let's eat grandma" image. This one is also great:

320244_2180612969314_1666632006_2113915_1390055775_n.jpg

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That comic is wrong. The latter situation applies when you do use punctuation rules with the Oxford comma, but the sentence in question does not have the comma before 'and'. If you don't use the Oxford comma, only the latter sentence is grammatically correct, but is (very slightly) ambiguous. It's not a problem, since you can parse the meaning using context (like you have to do with practically any sentence anyway).

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That comic is wrong. The latter situation applies when you do use punctuation rules with the Oxford comma, but the sentence in question does not have the comma before 'and'. If you don't use the Oxford comma, only the latter sentence is grammatically correct, but is (very slightly) ambiguous. It's not a problem, since you can parse the meaning using context (like you have to do with practically any sentence anyway).

It can also be rewritten quite easily to almost completely remove the ambiguity.

"We invited JFK, Stalin and the strippers."

That said I have no real problem with the Oxford comma. I tend not to use it myself, but it doesn't confuse or bother me when I see it.

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I didn't even realize there was such a thing as an Oxford comma. I was always just taught that that is the correct way to list things. Is not putting a comma there still grammatically correct?

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ZW7bB8D_mAY


Top Youtube comment:

I give a fuck about an Oxford comma. I think they're really important for resolving ambiguity

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Tanu, sorry to nitpick on grammar, but this has bothered me for a while. You've now replaced ellipses with question marks in your posts. I'm reading them like questions addressed to me (and other forumers). If in doubt, just use a period. That's the safe bet.

Good luck with the Red Cross thing!

While I get the ellipsis abuse that I'm still trying to get over, I've never heard it's inappropriate to have question marks when I'm questioning whether the situation

may or may not happen?:erm:

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While I get the ellipsis abuse that I'm still trying to get over, I've never heard it's inappropriate to have question marks when I'm questioning whether the situation

may or may not happen?:erm:

Neither this;

In two weeks I'll do a course in the Red Cross and then I'll see if I can do some voluntary work for them

Nor this;

They say they need people to teach the elderly how to use a computer, something I think I can do

Are questions. Phrasing prevents you (or should) from putting question marks on those sentences. Among other things that I don't remember from fifth grade English, I'm sure.

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Wait, so even if you're saying, or thinking, in a doubtful tone (self-doubtful in this case), you still can't end the sentence in a question mark? I am technically questioning myself.

Maybe it's just my brain, or Spanish grammar, but I hear a question mark in my brain in these situations.

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Punctuation aside, I'm glad you're doing productive things, Tanu! That Red Cross thing seems like a great way to start taking a bit more control over your life.

Is the Oxford comma (specifically, the lack thereof) one of those things that's cool in American English but not in the UK/Canada? If my second grade teacher ever saw me end a list without a comma in front of the "and", I'd have to re-do the entire thing.

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Argh! Now I'm confused again about comma usage. Stupid natural languages. Y U SO HARD! (:some rage comic here:)

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It can also be rewritten quite easily to almost completely remove the ambiguity.

"We invited JFK, Stalin and the strippers."

That said I have no real problem with the Oxford comma. I tend not to use it myself, but it doesn't confuse or bother me when I see it.

I have no problem with it either. But if you try to do punctuation humour, you better get it right :P

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Is the Oxford comma (specifically, the lack thereof) one of those things that's cool in American English but not in the UK/Canada? If my second grade teacher ever saw me end a list without a comma in front of the "and", I'd have to re-do the entire thing.

Not really. I learned English in the UK and I don't recall having been asked to use the Oxford comma. It is, however, called the Oxford comma because it was traditionally taught at Oxford University, I believe. Nowadays it seems like some institutions (and probably even just some teachers) teach it and not others. There isn't really one group of people you can go to for "correct" grammar right now (that I know of), but the prevailing opinion appears to be that either way is fine.

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Wait, so even if you're saying, or thinking, in a doubtful tone (self-doubtful in this case), you still can't end the sentence in a question mark? I am technically questioning myself.

Sorry, I don't remember the exact terms and rules. I tried too look them up, but I couldn't find them quickly. So half of what I say next is coming out of my ass. Also, I probably occasionally abuse the question mark myself.

In two weeks I'll do a course in the Red Cross and then I'll see if I can do some voluntary work for them
This is a composite sentence and your question mark applied to both parts. But the first part is pretty non-questioning. The second part is doubtful but still phrased in a non-questioning way: "I'll see if ...".

If you would want to use a question mark you would probably phrase it like:

In two weeks I'll do a course in the Red Cross. Can I do some voluntary work for them? I'll see then.
Then you would be asking a question and since it's rhetorical and you are having a forum conversation, you'd answer it yourself, I guess.

See, in the last sentence I was doubtful, but didn't need a question mark. *

[edit]* It seems I mixed two different tenses, though.

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It's referred to as the Harvard comma in the US, IIRC. My company style guide says we don't use it, but my education taught that one does, so I'm all kinds of mixed up. A good general line is to pick one (oxford or non-oxford) and be consistent throughout a piece of writing. Proofed a grant application last month that veered between using it and not using it and I must have used half my ink just flagging them.

That question mark at the end of a sentence thing? That I am doing here? Seems to be a textual representation of "uptalk." Google that term and you'll find a lot of "you kids get off my lawn" grumblings about the youth of today not knowing how to talk. It's also more common among girls and young women, so there may be a bit of sexism in (Bang!) Oh no! (Dies.)

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I noticed in California that youth (especially so-called Valley Girls) tend to end their sentences, no matter what they are, by going up? It's as if they're constantly asking questions? And doubting themselves? It's really weird?

As for the fucking comma, don't use a fucking comma before 'and' when you sum things up. The first comma is only there in the first place because you need a distinguisher if you sum up more than two words. It's basically a replacement for 'and' because putting two ands in there would look really goofy. I laughed at the JFK and Stalin joke, but that seems like a case for context. Put on the context signal, commissioner Gordon! We have need for context!

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Oh, I think Erkki's explanation is making things clear to me, I'll try to remember this.

Subbes, the first link said that "uptalking" is the opposite of assertiveness and confidence, which is kinda how I'm feeling now, so I guess it makes sense that I'm abusing the question mark now.

And oddly enough, I got a call for a job interview for a cinema! Who gets a job interview call on a Saturday in the afternoon? The worst part and I'm already getting ridiculously nervous, I can barely sit down! Maybe I'm excited and nervous? I don't really know, I didn't even expect to get one so soon, it got me completely off guard!

I'll try to spend tomorrow trying not to panic, but the only way I know how to deal with this is incense and nature sounds?

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