To the darling slaves of psycho-babble .

[bbro]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I never heard of it....was this taught in typing class?

I actually never took typing class. They were part of the guidelines when writing papers in High School (maybe middle school). Points were deducted if there was only one space.

[Undertoad]

I never learned not to put two spaces after a period. Incredibly, HTML corrects that, by default. You can put ten spaces after the period if you like, it doesn't matter.

[Ibby]

You technically are s'posta, I think, but I don't cause im a lazy bastard, and dont care enough to remind myself to do it.

[BigV]

Yep. My text looks fine in the edit box and cramped in the post. I probably sing better in the shower too.

[Rock Steady]

I actually had a dot-comma argument with my partner about a writing style issue. On the phone, he says to me "No comma between the last two elements of a list; from Strunk and White". So, I pull the book down from my shelf and it says the oppposite as in: "blue, green, red, and yellow" So, I used that style on our company web site.

But, in modern practice my partner was right. In many ways modern usage has evolved from the time of Strunk and White. Now a better guide is the AP Style Book by Associated Press.

http://www.apstylebook.com

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Now a better guide is the AP Style Book by Associated Press.

http://www.apstylebook.com

Hmmph. Given how accurate they seem to be in other realms I surely wouldn't worship anything AP says. Consider cross-checking with the Chicago Manual and the Holt Handbook before gainsaying Strunk and White.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Hmmph. Given how accurate they seem to be in other realms I surely wouldn't worship anything AP says. Consider cross-checking with the Chicago Manual and the Holt Handbook before gainsaying Strunk and White.

That's like saying Allen Iverson has a lot of turnovers; well he handles the ball 80% of the time. Associated Press writes 80% of the news for this country. The media outlets just present it to you. Fox News spends less money to gather news itself than any other major outlet. AP is a non-profit organization owned by its corporate members.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Associated Press writes 80% of the news for this country.

Doesn't make it any truer.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Doesn't make it any truer.

Actually, it does make it truer. If they are the ones who write the news, they make the new comma rule happen.

Until I had a partnership with AP, I didn't realize how ubiquitous their content is.

[Maui Nick]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Hmmph. Given how accurate they seem to be in other realms I surely wouldn't worship anything AP says. Consider cross-checking with the Chicago Manual and the Holt Handbook before gainsaying Strunk and White.

The AP goes out of its way to ensure accuracy and issues prompt and accurate corrections when it's wrong (which puts it several orders of magnitude above, say, Bill O'Reilly). Frequently, two or three versions of one story move in the same news cycle to ensure that the information the AP is correct; 99 times out of 100, corrections deal with minor style mistakes and/or misspellings rather than factuality. The chief exception to this is the sports wire; it tends to be more bleeding-edge in terms of the information going out because of AP members' final deadlines, which in the Eastern Time Zone fall within 90 minutes of the end of prime-time games. Unfortunately for my stress level in my former job, official scorers have a habit of changing their decisions at the last minute (and usually less than two minutes after I had sent my last page off to the plate burner in the pressroom ).

An out-and-out KILL signal for a grossly inaccurate story is rarely sent and rarely has to be. I haven't seen any for that reason in over two years; the last KILL orders I have seen were for outdated stories that moved on a previous day which were accidentally resent despite being outdated.

AP style is neat, clean and consistent. It's focused more on delievering the message than it is with miscellaneous style points. It's also what many kids are becoming used to; because most website news is AP, the AP's brand of style will be what those kids see more than anything else.

Disclaimer: I never worked at the AP, but I have many professional colleagues who do work there.

[Brooke of the Land]

Personally, I learned that a comma is optional before and (though I always use one), there is one space after a comma or semicolon, and two spaces after a period.

On the other hand, my fiance does not use a comma before the last item in a list, and only puts one space after a period.

We grew up in the same area of Texas. Who decided that we were going to learn two completely different things? And why are both acceptable if one is supposed to be "right" over the other?

Although I have had one tiny little conversation about this debate, I really think I've got much bigger things to worry about right now. Just don't tell me the way I'm doing it is wrong, and everything will be fine.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

"blue, green, red, and yellow" http://www.apstylebook.com

To me, not having the final comma makes it look like the last two elements are a part of a whole. A more illustrative example of this might be something like: "An airplane, a spaceship, cars, and trucks." To write it "an airplane, a spaceship, cars and trucks" sets cars and trucks as a part of a whole i.e. cars and trucks as land-roving vehicles.

I don't think I'm explaining myself very well, but I do remember being taught to put the comma before the 'and' in a list.

[Maui Nick]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

To me, not having the final comma makes it look like the last two elements are a part of a whole. A more illustrative example of this might be something like: "An airplane, a spaceship, cars, and trucks." To write it "an airplane, a spaceship, cars and trucks" sets cars and trucks as a part of a whole i.e. cars and trucks as land-roving vehicles.

Stop and say it out loud, pausing everytime you hit a comma.

Now you see why the comma before "and" is inappropriate. The best writing is conversational, not stilted and formal.

Regarding the "one spaces or two after a sentence rule" discussion ... as somebody already noted, using the "justify" command in your word processor makes that particular "rule" superfluous. Any teacher trying to deduct points for it in the PC era is being a bit too picky, obsessing with minor style details while not paying attention to the message itself.

[Rock Steady]

Yes, I totally agree with you S123. As a computer scientist my feeling is that without the comma, the statement doesn't type check.

But, after this argument that I had, I noticed professional journalists don't use the comma anymore. I was arguing with a guy who was an Editor in Chief of several publications. It's a stupid convention, but that's the way it's done now.

Commas are important. "Eats shoots and leaves" or "Eats, shoots and leaves"?

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Yes, I totally agree with you S123. As a computer scientist my feeling is that without the comma, the statement doesn't type check.

ditto