Rules Project Entry 2

The image below is a "Wills and Memories" section in my brother's yearbook. 

When I was reading this I noticed that there was a semi-colon in between each "memory."  I didn't think the semi-colon placing was correct at all because I thought that one would use a semi-colon when they want to put together two independent clauses.  So I decided to look up the correct usages of a semi-colon. 

Commentary:
On the Purdue OWL website, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/engagement/index.php?category_id=2&sub_category_id=1&article_id=44 it states that a semi-colon can be used for joining two independent clauses.  These two clauses are related to one another, when the semi-colon is used. 

The other reason a semi-colon could be used would be to use semi-colons in between items that already have commas.  For example, "I have been to Albany, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Miami, Florida."  In the above image, there are no commas for a semi-colon to even be placed.

Typo in Newspaper

One of my Pet Peeves

In our town's local newspaper, I found a spelling typo.  Under the picture, it reads "Majoe League" instead of Major.  It is one of my pet peeves to see a typo in a newspaper because a spelling error could easily be caught by a proof reader or some type of spell check on the computer.  And you know there is going to be some sort of spell check to use for a newspaper company, especially when these articles are going to be read by hundreds of people.   
The fact that my dad pointed out this spelling error surprised me because usually he doesn't pay attention to things like this.  This means if my dad could easily point it out, anyone could!

Rules Project Entry 1

I was reading an article in our town's local newspaper, The Daily Reporter, when I found two run-on sentences in a row.

If you take a look at the middle column, there are two sentences that could sound a lot better and make the article flow more easily. The first sentence says, "They purchased their property a few years ago and have been working on rebuilding the house and they have a garden with vegetables and corn." The next sentence reads, "They also have ducks and chickens and a miniature dachshund named Rebecca and cats who all get along with Bob."



Commentary:

According to an University of Oregon website, http://tlc.uoregon.edu/publications/studyskills/GrammarHandouts/Run-ons.pdf, a run-on sentence contains two independent clauses. Or in other words, a group of words could stand alone to have two complete sentences, or one could use proper punctuation to make the sentence correct.

I would also change the who in the second sentence to that because according grammarbook.com, "who" refers to people and "that" refers to groups or things.

In the sentences in the article above, I would get rid of some "ands" and put in more commas. If I were to correct these two sentences, they would read as follows, "They purchased their property a few years ago and have been working on rebuilding the house, which has a garden with vegetables and corn. They also have ducks, chickens, a miniature dachshund named, Rebecca, and cats, that all get along with Bob.

A Contradictory Rule in the English Language

One of the biggest things I absolutely despise about the English language is that a lot of its words do NOT follow the English rules.  For example, the rule, “’I’ before ‘E’ except after ‘C.’”  This is obviously not the case in words such as eight, weird, or neither!  This rule especially doesn’t apply with the word “ancient” either.  Then I learned the exception to the rule..."I before E except after C, unless it sounds like A as in neighbor or weigh.  But I soon realized that this new version of the "rule" STILL isn't the case with all the words.   

I personally did not find it that difficult to try and remember these types of words when growing up or going through school, but I can see how some students would.  I have recently been subbing at a school and helping elementary students out with trying to spell certain words and when they come across problems, like the “I” before “E” rule, I have a hard time trying to explain to them that certain (actually a lot of) words will not follow the specific rules that they are taught.

Other Words that Don’t Follow the "I Before E" Rule

Deity

Feint

Either

Forfeit

Science

Society

Foreign