[OT, grammar and punctuation] Use of commas in US and British style?

[Marcolino]

I'd like to see more commas in my paycheck!

Now, as for commas in a sentence, I've always placed a comma before the final "and" or "or," but only if there are more than two items in the list.

 

[AdamDray]

(b) is correct.

None are.
Few are.
Some are.
Several are.
Many are.
All are.

I think they are called "collective nouns." I can't remember for certain.

"None" is short for "not one," so I personally think it should be singular all the time. However, the alt.usage.english FAQ disagrees, so I'll post the relevant entry here:

http://www.non.com/news.answers/alt-usage-english-faq.html

"none is" vs "none are"

With mass nouns, you have to use the singular. ("None of the wheat is...") With count nouns, you can use either the singular or the plural. ("None of the books is..." or "None of the books are...") Usually, the plural sounds more natural, unless you're trying to emphasize the idea of "not one", or if the words that follow work better in the singular.

The fullest (prescriptive) treatment is in Eric Partridge's book _Usage and Abusage_ (Penguin, 1970, 0-14-051024-9). In the original edition Partridge had prescribed the singular in certain cases, but a rather long-winded letter from a correspondent persuaded him to retract.

How's this for another grammar peeve: placing punctuation outside of quotes. Something that always bothered me, along with several other things.

Yes, it is correct to place punctuation inside of quotes, but it can me misleading, especially in my technical writing work (in the computer field) in which I must explain to people precisely what to type. If I do not want them to type the trailing period, should I still follow the grammatical rule or should I move the period outside the quotation marks? I tend to err on the side of clarity.

Adam Dray

 

[Tom Cashel]

I was taught to put the coma before the and in a list. To do otherwise is a mistake according to the writing classes I took.

Leave the coma in the hospital where it belongs.

And how can we leave out

Rogue vs. Rouge?

One is a PC class in D&D. The other is a type of facial makeup.

 

[Ferret]

"He(singular) is(Verb for singular) alive(Random word).

They(Plural) are(Verb for plural) dead(Random word)."


Right - the question is: "Is 'none' singular or plural?"

I always thought "none" to be singular, as in "not one." My friend says that it is plural.

"None of the books are..."
"None of the book is..."

The None is not a noun(by the looks of it) and therefore does not decide the pluralness of the sentance.
"Not one of the books are..."
"Not one part of the book is..."

 

[Lizard]

I'm currently re-editing Natural 20 Press's Tournaments, Fairs, & Taverns for its 2003 print release, and I'm noticing that all the parts written by Russell Morrissey and Peter Ball (a Brit and an Aussie) use a different style of comma-usage in sequences.

For example, I would say: "You see before you a troll, a gazebo, and a portable bathroom."

They would say: "You see before you a troll, a gazebo and a portable bathroom."

I was taught to always include a comma before the 'and', to avoid the following:

"I'd like to thank my parents, God and JD Salinger."

 

[Lizard]

Leave the coma in the hospital where it belongs.

And how can we leave out

Rogue vs. Rouge?

One is a PC class in D&D. The other is a type of facial makeup.

Check in Traps&Treachery II, where I am responsible for inflicting "Rogue's Rouge", a magical makeup, on the world.

My wife also proposed "The Rouge Rogue", a red-clad Robin-Hood type superhero.

 

[Maerdwyn]

"None" is a noun, and the subject of the sentence " None of the books is red."

"Of the books" is a prepositional phrase, and therefore functions as adverbs or adjectives, in this case as an adjective, modifying the noun "none." [*Maerdwyn goes off to reevaluate this particular use of his time* ]

 

[Hypersmurf]

Must ... restrain ... pedantrism!

Pedantry.

-Hyp.

 

[Lizard]

Pedantry.

-Hyp.

Merely being on the Internet results in a levy to your Resist Pedantry pool.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Yes, it is correct to place punctuation inside of quotes, but it can me misleading, especially in my technical writing work (in the computer field) in which I must explain to people precisely what to type. If I do not want them to type the trailing period, should I still follow the grammatical rule or should I move the period outside the quotation marks? I tend to err on the side of clarity.

While I, too, recognize the 'correctness' of punctuation (other than the semicolon) inside quotes, I always put it outside; I can't stand the idea of changing a quote, even in a minor way, if it can be helped.

I'm surprised no one has brought up American vs. English quoting styles (shock quotes as single or double).