Another grammar, punctuation question!

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

However typing nowadays seems weird to me. I was fortunate and my Secretaries were all good typists from the 1960's.

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1960s. Not 1960's.

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

They put 28 June. Looks dreadful, should be 28th June.

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Surely it should be 28th of June? Because saying, "Twenty-eighth June" sounds wrong. I say, "Twenty-eighth of June" or, "June twenty-eighth" if I'm feeling in an American mood.

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Plus they dont indent paragraphs and I detest it when they justify typing or whatever expression they call it where you end up with huge gaps between words so every line is the same length.

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You mean like in every novel and newspaper out there?

Funnily enough, it's because of the internet that flush left alignment has had something of a resurgence.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Bianca

It would make no sense to add extra spaces after, say, commas. Then, you'd need three after full stops!

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But why is more space needed after a full stop than after a comma? Why not have two spaces after a comma and two spaces after a full stop? That would space things out nicely, if spacing things out to look nice was the primary concern.

The full stop itself already acts like another space. It's literally a tiny dot that takes up as much space as a space. Adding another space to the existing dot and space just seems like a waste of paper to me.

It's a bit like when people use every other line when writing on lined paper. Why do they do that?

Originally Posted by Bridgetx

Things that wind me up the most are when people use the ampersand in place of any old "and" as opposed to when it is specifically acceptable.

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There are rules regarding when you can use the ampersand?! Ooh, what are they?

[Bianca]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

But why is more space needed after a full stop than after a comma? Why not have two spaces after a comma and two spaces after a full stop? That would space things out nicely, if spacing things out to look nice was the primary concern.

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I think you may have missed the point Nimbus. "To look nice"

A comma is present within a sentence; a full stop marks the end of a sentence.

Double spacing sentences is not dissimilar to using paragraphs to organise text. It's much easier to scan for particular information when the spacing is considered. Just like it's much easier to find something in a well-organised room, compared to a more cluttered room.

"To look nice"

[Guest]

I do question or exclamation marks inside brackets (if necessary) but always put a full stop outside regardless.

Double spacing after a full stop is an old typewriter thing to do with keys overlapping. It's something to do with the location of the full stop key which isn't relevant with a comma because it's on the other side of the keyboard.

I generally write dates as 28/06/17 but otherwise it would be Wednesday 28th June.

[Bianca]

Originally Posted by Hollie04

Double spacing after a full stop is an old typewriter thing to do with keys overlapping. It's something to do with the location of the full stop key which isn't relevant with a comma because it's on the other side of the keyboard.

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Interesting. There's usual an original, more practical reason, isn't there? I wasn't taught it in relation to typing, it was for layout. Shows how things evolve and why it's not so common these days.

[Gill H]

Originally Posted by TerryAFS

My other pet hates were those who didn't put a space between paragraphs and those who didn't know how to sign themselves off properly. Should they use Yours faithfully, sincerely or truly? I've seen some who type a capital S for sincerely.

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"If it's a Sir you're not sincere"

[Bianca]

Originally Posted by Gill H

"If it's a Sir you're not sincere"

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Well, that's definitely more interesting than the, "If it starts with an s doesn't end with one", that I was taught! Though, to be fair, I have always remembered.

Anyone else, being more careful with their posts today, in light of this thread?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

There are rules regarding when you can use the ampersand?! Ooh, what are they?

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More often than not it is not appropriate to substitute the ampersand for the word 'and'. Loads of articles on it out there, here is one such.

probizwriters/PBW-blo...persand-usage/

[Guest]

Originally Posted by LaughingPlace

I would dare say that you can't have a completely bracketed sentence, only a subordinate clause (I think).

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Totally agree (my two penneth).

[Bianca]

Originally Posted by LaughingPlace

I would dare say that you can't have a completely bracketed sentence, only a subordinate clause (I think).

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Originally Posted by geoffa

Totally agree (my two penneth).

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You big spender, Geoffa! (I must get on over and read your St.L trip report! I hope it went really well.)

I'd guess you two are right about a completely bracketed sentence. I've got used to using it sometimes, as a kind of subordinate sentence within a paragraph. ...Thinking about it, that's mainly within forum posts; I think, because there's an element of writing in a more conversational style.