Punctuation Game

[The Dude]

I got 67% :)

http://dude111.fileave.com/ESLquiz.swf

[Ancient Dragon]

That's crazy. "Four Yards Worth" shouldn't have an apostrophy. And there are other wrong answers too.

[VernonDozier]

That's crazy. "Four Yards Worth" shouldn't have an apostrophy. And there are other wrong answers too.

My mom was an English teacher, so I'm going to check with her. I guessed correctly on that one, but that's assuming the author is correct. Some of the comma questions aren't clear unless you know the context.

"Of course there weren't enough tickets to go around." takes a comma or it doesn't depending on what you are emphasizing and whether you are answering a question.

[The Dude]

Are you sure Dragon?

Someone used one in this reply here

http://forum.wordreference.com/showpost.php?p=255448&postcount=4

What was your score mate?

[Ancient Dragon]

>>My mom was an English teacher

Great :) maybe she will clear that up for us (me).

>>What was your score mate?
I didn't finish it.

[aditya2071990]

I got 58%, but the game recorded my mouse clicks in the wrong locations... a space too far is enough to give me a "wrong", though I intended to click in the right place

[Ancient Dragon]

I finally finished it -- got 67%

[vmanes]

67% seems common here! Me too. Or is that, "Me, too?"

As to apostrophe in the "four yards worth" question, yep, that seems valid, as found on several other grammar sites. Proper place in this use is after the s, since it's a multiple quantity. In real life writing, I doubt I'd remember or use that rule, and I doubt my meaning would get misconstrued.

Love those books with fun names. Besides ESL, I'm a fan of "Stop Stealing Sheep."

[The Dude]

I finally finished it -- got 67%

Congrats on getting 67% :)

[VernonDozier]

>>My mom was an English teacher

Great :) maybe she will clear that up for us (me).

I don't know if it clears it up, but she voted that the test was right and "four yards worth" needs an apostrophe. She has a pretty decent track record on this type of thing, so I'm going to take her word for it.

[Gerryx1]

That type of speaking was quite common in this part of Ireland, when I was growing up, but, I think it would be regarded as 'speaking in the vernacular', that is: speaking in the manner of a certain region or locality, which would, by definition, not be good English usage. I could be also referred to as a 'colloquialism' - which has much the same meaning ie. local dialect or slang. Therefore, I feel that it would be impossiple to fix this term or phrase by means of punctuation. What "Four yards worth" means is: four yards of; so, to give 'yards' the possessive apostrophe would, I feel be incorrect.

[Ancient Dragon]

. What "Four yards worth" means is: four yards of; so, to give 'yards' the possessive apostrophe would, I feel be incorrect.

My thought exactly :) In this phrase "Four yards of concrete" there should not be an apostrophe because yards does not possess anything but just describes how much concrete. That statement isn't at all like "my brother's house".

[Gerryx1]

Yea, punctuation is difficult at the best of times but, if the sentence or statement is not clear, then it is more so. The apostrophe is used to indicate possession or a letter missing, so you have the right understanding of its usage. Here is another example of where some people get it wrong: "understanding of its usage". You could be easily tricked into thinking that "its" needs the possessive apostrophe, which would change the meaning to "understanding of it is usage".

[MK12]

I got 67%... This is too common to be a coincidence, how does everyone get 67? I'm going to try it again and see if I get 67 again.

[Ancient Dragon]

Must be a coincidence. I went back and purposely missed every question. Got zero percent, as I expected I should.

[MK12]

Ya you're right.. I guess we just all got around 3 questions wrong or something.

[Gerryx1]

Punctuation is not always easy, in long senences especially. Take the sentence I've just written: grammar geeks would say that the word 'especially' should come after the comma. I still don't always get it right. According to the experts, ir is better to underdo, than overdo, punctuation. Here is one example where, without punctuation, there is no meaning to what is written; see if you can fix it with punctuation. "It was and I said not I

[Ancient Dragon]

The only people who must know proper punctuation are those that write text books that teach English grammer. For the rest of us normal people, we can get along quite nicely with a few grammer mistakes. I only use commas where it makes sence to me. "It was, and I said, not I" still doesn't make much sense with or without commas.

[Gerryx1]

The only people who must know proper punctuation are those that write text books that teach English grammer. For the rest of us normal people, we can get along quite nicely with a few grammer mistakes. I only use commas where it makes sence to me. "It was, and I said, not I" still doesn't make much sense with or without commas.

It may not make total sense, but you made a good stab at it. It would have been perfect, if you had put speech marks or inverted commas to denote what you said, thus: It was, and I said, "not I".
But you can still make another meaning out of it, with different punctuation. Another version is much the same except a different word at the end: It was and I said not but

[Ancient Dragon]

you didn't say we could change words. In that case: And I said "It was not I"

Actually I would have said "It was not me". But that's a different grammer problem.

It's right to say 'between you and me', and wrong to say 'between you and I'. This is because a preposition such as 'between' should be followed by an object pronoun such as 'me', 'him', 'her', and 'us' rather than a subject pronoun such as 'I', 'he', 'she', and 'we'.

http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/classicerrors/grammartips/iorme

[Gerryx1]

You're right; actually, when I had submited that post, I realised that the last word in was 'but', not I. There would be another grammatical error, speech always begins with a capital letter ie. I said, "Not I". The original version: Turn the following into a proper sentence by the use of punctuation: It was and I said not but
Don't change any words or letters, and there are no speech marks.

[Ancient Dragon]

That makes no sense at all.

[vmanes]

When it comes to grammar, I leave her to granpa.

[Gerryx1]

That makes no sense at all.

I know, in its present form, yes, but it is one of the best examples of how important punctuation can be. With the proper placement of two punctuation marks, it becomes a perfectly understandable sencence. I won't spoil the fun by showing the answer.

[almostbob]

the quiz is wrong
four yards worth
can be written under other circumstance as
sixpence worth
therefore there are no apostrophes
If one answer is wrong, the others are likely to be also.

[rafaelapolinari]

I got 68% hell, this sure is fun.

[Norbert X]

w00t got 100% (after 3 tries of course)

[Gerryx1]

That makes no sense at all.

The finished version of the puzzle: Using punctuation make a proper sencence out this: It was and I said not but

Here it is: It was and I said, not but.

[Gerryx1]

the quiz is wrong
four yards worth
can be written under other circumstance as
sixpence worth
therefore there are no apostrophes
If one answer is wrong, the others are likely to be also.

Yea, there were a few examples of that kind of speak in years past. Another example was: "A penn'orth of sweets" etc, translates as: a pennies worth of, aka, what a penny can buy.
In grammatical terms, pennies worth is a statement of quantity, not possession. To justify an apostrophe you would have someting like: "That's the penny's place".

[almostbob]

Yea, there were a few examples of that kind of speak in years past. Another example was: "A penn'orth of sweets" etc, translates as: a pennies worth of, aka, what a penny can buy.
In grammatical terms, pennies worth is a statement of quantity, not possession. To justify an apostrophe you would have someting like: "That's the penny's place".

Does this imply that four yards worth is a statement of possession, that four yards collectively own a worth?
What is a worth, of which this mutiplicity of yards have taken possession?
When I buy ten dollars worth of fuel, for my very small motor at current prices, do the ten dollars likewise take possession of the fuel, or do I take possession of the amount of fuel that ten dollars buys?
Four yards worth, as is anything else worth, is an expression of quantity