Ack! The interview will come after a grammar test! I always failed grammar! Intransitive things, and diagramming, and what is that tense!
That's my girl... That's my good girl.
Kaylee ,'Serenity'
Spike's Bitches 42: Which question do you want me to answer first?
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Connie Neil - Sep 29, 2008 1:53:52 pm PDT #6958 of 10001
brillig
Scrappy - Sep 29, 2008 1:58:22 pm PDT #6959 of 10001
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Connie, relax, darling. You are a smart person who knows how to use language. They won't want you to name parts of speech, but they WILL want to know you can differentiate they're/there/their and effect/affect. Also that you know where to put commas. And that you can spot sentence fragments. You might also want to brush up on commonly misspelled words [link]
Dana - Sep 29, 2008 2:04:16 pm PDT #6960 of 10001
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
connie, I can promise you, in ten years of tech writing, it has never been important for me to be able to diagram a sentence.
Be prepared to rewrite something from passive voice to active voice. Scrappy's suggestions are also good. Make sure you can identify a comma splice.
Connie Neil - Sep 29, 2008 2:04:32 pm PDT #6961 of 10001
brillig
they WILL want to know you can differentiate they're/there/their and effect/affect. Also that you know where to put commas. And that you can spot sentence fragments.
Ha. Fragments. 2 of them, right?
Yes, I'll need to brush up the misspelled words.
Connie Neil - Sep 29, 2008 2:10:20 pm PDT #6962 of 10001
brillig
Make sure you can identify a comma splice.
OH, dear. A comma splice is supposed to be bad, right?
Connie Neil - Sep 29, 2008 2:14:39 pm PDT #6963 of 10001
brillig
Scrappy, that spelling list is brilliant.
Now I want to know what kind of spelling teacher I had, because I grew up spelling judgment, judgement. It hurts to spell it the other way. Greene County, Pennsylvania, may be the borders of Appalachia, but it's still part of the American school system.
Dana - Sep 29, 2008 2:28:12 pm PDT #6964 of 10001
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.
Yes, a comma splice is bad. It's using a comma to separate two complete sentences, rather than a period.
This is a comma splice, it is bad.
This is not a comma splice. Note the period. (Or the semi-colon.)
Connie Neil - Sep 29, 2008 2:47:51 pm PDT #6965 of 10001
brillig
I marked that. I suspect I'll be referring to it as a reminder.
DavidS - Sep 29, 2008 2:50:17 pm PDT #6966 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
It's pretty simple, Connie. An independent clause is something which can stand alone as a complete sentence. If you have two independent clauses, then you use a semi-colon, or break them into two sentences. That's really all you need to remember.
Connie Neil - Sep 29, 2008 3:03:20 pm PDT #6967 of 10001
brillig
Good lord, I actually felt a shudder at the words "independent clause." My English grades were always fun in school. "Why on earth do you have a D--oh, is that the week they did grammar?"
If I ever went on "Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader," I'd definitely save a cheat for the grammar question.
What is the difference between transitive and intransitive anyway?