[OT] Spelling

[Eleven]

I wonder if anyone has seriously studied the toll that the Internet has taken on the productivity of the average American worker (with access to the Internet).

 

There were tons of studies (study's?) on just that in the late '90s and early '00s. It hurts productivity as much as you would imagine. But it probably only hurts productivity as much as the good ol' smoke break did, and that's largely dying out. On top of it, the average American worker has experienced increased hours and responsibilities (also well-reported, beginning with the mid-'80s, starting again in the early '90s, and then again in the early '00s), so I doubt that the employers are losing the battle.

[darksabre]

I wonder if anyone has seriously studied the toll that the Internet has taken on the productivity of the average American worker (with access to the Internet).

 

I definitely don't get anything done if I have internet. The most productive two weeks of my academic career were the first two weeks of this school year when I didn't have internet in my house. Now I'm back to regular old procrastination. youtube has pretty much ruined my life.

[Taro T]

I agree, doesn't sound right when you say it, but I stand by it. Unfortunately, no universal source for most of the these so called "rules".

 

as to affect/effect - affect can be a noun - as in a person's affect (relating to demeanor).

 

The difficulty (for me, anyway) is discerning between the verb form of affect and effect, two different words meaning almost the exact same thing. Drives me batty, just one of those personal stumbling blocks in life. I literally spend a minute or two trying to determine which one I should use when it is necessary to use one. Thank god for synonyms.

Affect typically is dealing with a more subtle change than effect. Affect being used when something has been influenced and effect more so when something has been physically altered.

[Bmwolf21]

I'm going to add the usually incorrect term "in tact" rather than intact.

[SDS]

You are correct, Shrader. Most professional writing, including legal, medical and scientific, teaches not to use the extra comma. Outside of the professional fields, the, use, of, commas, is, liberalized. :-)

 

I don't care who teaches what regarding this rule, adding the extra comma eliminates any possible confusion. I will use it to the DAY I DIE!

[carpandean]

The one that kills me are serial commas. I don't know what your 4th grade teacher taught you but there should be a comma before the 'and' or 'or' if there are more than two items in a list ("Blue, Gold, and Silver" not "Blue, Gold and Silver"). I have trouble reading books that get that wrong.

Interesting. I consider myself to be well educated (15 years of private school - NS-12 - and 11 years of higher education) and I've never heard that. Generally, I would only use the comma before the "and" if there is another "and" or "or" within the list. E.g., "after the fight, he was cut, black and blue, and dirty." I was always under the impression that the "and" served as the list separator between the final two items. I certainly wouldn't consider that to be a glaring error (except for in cases like the one that I mentioned.)

[PASabreFan]

I don't care who teaches what regarding this rule, adding the extra comma eliminates any possible confusion. I will use it to the DAY I DIE!

 

Example?

[PASabreFan]

Interesting. I consider myself to be well educated (15 years of private school - NS-12 - and 11 years of higher education) and I've never heard that. Generally, I would only use the comma before the "and" if there is another "and" or "or" within the list. E.g., "after the fight, he was cut, black and blue, and dirty." I was always under the impression that the "and" served as the list separator between the final two items. I certainly wouldn't consider that to be a glaring error (except for in cases like the one that I mentioned.)

 

Neither way of punctuating such sentences is wrong. It's a matter of preference. Consistency is important. And of course if you have to adhere to a style manual, you have to follow what it says.

 

Your post demonstrates another common error, the misplacement of "only."

[SDS]

Example?

 

My favorite sports are football, hockey, baseball, and wrestling.

 

I will always put that comma after baseball.

[PASabreFan]

My favorite sports are football, hockey, baseball, and wrestling.

 

I will always put that comma after baseball.

 

No, I meant an example of how the serial comma can prevent confusion. That sentence is perfectly clear with or without the third comma.

 

Again, there really isn't anything to debate here. Both ways are right, as long as you're consistent. Now, if one way or the other is better...

[carpandean]

My favorite sports are football, hockey, baseball, and wrestling.

I will always put that comma after baseball.

That sentence is perfectly clear with or without the third comma.

Yeah. In fact, it actually looks a little odd - or, at least, superfluous - to me to have that last comma.

[SDS]

No, I meant an example of how the serial comma can prevent confusion. That sentence is perfectly clear with or without the third comma.

 

Again, there really isn't anything to debate here. Both ways are right, as long as you're consistent. Now, if one way or the other is better...

 

For our picnic I packed potato salad, hot dogs, soda, peanut butter and jelly.

 

Did you pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or just a jar of each? This isn't the best example because you could eliminate the confusion by adding the word "sandwich" to the list, but I hope you understand what I am getting at. If I write:

 

For our picnic I packed potato salad, hot dogs, soda, peanut butter, and jelly.

 

I think there it is clear I packed jars and not sandwiches.

[PASabreFan]

For our picnic I packed potato salad, hot dogs, soda, peanut butter and jelly.

 

Did you pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or just a jar of each? This isn't the best example because you could eliminate the confusion by adding the word "sandwich" to the list, but I hope you understand what I am getting at. If I write:

 

For our picnic I packed potato salad, hot dogs, soda, peanut butter, and jelly.

 

I think there it is clear I packed jars and not sandwiches.

 

:thumbdown:

[SDS]

:thumbdown:

 

Thanks for wasting my time.

[carpandean]

For our picnic I packed potato salad, hot dogs, soda, peanut butter and jelly.

--

For our picnic I packed potato salad, hot dogs, soda, peanut butter, and jelly.

In the first one, if you meant "peanut butter and jelly" as an item in the list, then it is an incomplete list. It would be like saying "the colors of the United States are red, white, blue." If PB&J is an item, then there needs to be another "and" before peanut butter. Now, I will give you that your mind plays a trick on you, because peanut butter and jelly are commonly used together as a single item. However, this is not a writing problem, but a mental one.

[SDS]

In the first one, if you meant "peanut butter and jelly" as an item in the list, then it is an incomplete list. It would be like saying "the colors of the united states are red, white, blue." If PB&J is an item, then there needs to be another "and" before peanut butter. Now, I will give you that your mind plays a trick on you, because peanut butter and jelly are commonly used together as a single item. However, this is not a writing problem, but a mental one.

 

but in the end it is communication.

 

My way is just as correct as the other, but I think the additional comma can add clarification even if it is redundant to some. That's my opinion.

[PASabreFan]

Thanks for wasting my time.

 

It's small payback for the thousands of hours of wasted time you've brought upon me by creating this board. :)

 

No, it was just a bad example.

 

I brought potato salad, firecrackers, cocaine, condoms, peanut butter and jelly.

 

And

 

I brought potato salad, firecrackers, cocaine, condoms, peanut butter, and jelly.

 

have the same meaning.

 

Sorry for making your picnic a little less wholesome.

[inkman]

Sorry for making your picnic a little less wholesome.

I'd rather attend your picnic, as long as there are women involved. Otherwise, I'll go with Scott.

[wjag]

It's small payback for the thousands of hours of wasted time you've brought upon me by creating this board. :)

 

No, it was just a bad example.

 

I brought potato salad, firecrackers, cocaine, condoms, peanut butter and jelly.

 

And

 

I brought potato salad, firecrackers, cocaine, condoms, peanut butter, and jelly.

 

have the same meaning.

 

Sorry for making your picnic a little less wholesome.

I'm pretty sure of two things:

 

1.) I have never seen these items in the same list together

2.) These items should never be in the same list together..

[JujuFish]

From my experience, this word ranks near the top of the most often misspelled words on the internet: definitely

 

Also, there is only one 's' in just deserts. When you pronounce desert like dessert, it means a deserved punishment or reward.

 

caress-s=cares

princess-s=princes

[LabattBlue]

I'm just glad Max and Teppo are gone because hardly anyone spelled their last names correctly and is the reason why I always referred to them by their first names. :D

 

PS The spell check plug in for firefox is great! :thumbsup:

[SwampD]

I hate how everyone on this site spells Sabers incorrectly. What, are we in Quebec. Sacrebleu!!!

[Screamin'Weasel]

Perhaps one of you literate gentlemen or women can give me a clear "rule" on the use of ones.

 

It drives me crazy to hear "those ones." I believe in most cases you can just drop the "ones" to make it correct. For example: "I will take a dozen of those," rather than "I will take a dozen of those ones."

 

However, I believe ones is acceptable as a denomination of money, though I always use singles.

 

Another that drives me crazy is the pluralization of hyphenated compound words. For example the plural of son-of-a-bitch is sons-of-a-bitch not son-of-a-. Another example is sons-in-law.

 

Lastly, I ask you learned gents and ladies when you have more than one truck filled with sand, do you have several truckfuls or trucksful?

[PASabreFan]

From my experience, this word ranks near the top of the most often misspelled words on the internet: definitely

 

Also, there is only one 's' in just deserts. When you pronounce desert like dessert, it means a deserved punishment or reward.

 

 

princess-s=princes

 

Cool. Never knew that.

[shrader]

Neither way of punctuating such sentences is wrong. It's a matter of preference. Consistency is important. And of course if you have to adhere to a style manual, you have to follow what it says.

 

Your post demonstrates another common error, the misplacement of "only."

 

Thanks you this, I just had to read through his post about 5 times before I found where he actually used "only". But then again, I did get hit in the head twice in a hockey game last night (and you people wonder why I'm so big on the eliminate hits to the head bandwagon).