Need Quick Help - Grammar/Usage

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21 said:
Oy, stop. You're both kidding.

Lugz, I don't think 'affect' is what you're looking for here. Why not just say she'll respond better to a firm teacher. The more detail you add, it's going to sound like you're shopping for a perfect teacher.

You have double spaced between "better" and "to" in your post. It that correct form when using those two words in a sentence?
 
I was taught that "none lives" is correct. None is indeed the subject and is another way of saying "not one." If you were to say: "Not one of the students lives in our district," it would be pretty clear that "lives" is the way to go.
 
copperpot said:
dooley_womack1 said:
And Ms. Pot, the way you have it may be technically correct, but it's not the best writing; it's stilted

Oh, I completely agree.

Then reword it. But none stands for "No one." One is the subject, and it's singular.
 
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EStreetJoe said:
MileHigh said:
Lugnuts said:
Hi folks, I'll be brief - I have to do a brief write-up about my daughter to the public school for this fall so that they'll know how to place her. I have some grammar/usage questions that I could Google, but I have a sick baby at home and no time... so I was wondering if somebody could quickly help me. Not you, Boom. :) Please forgive the "idiot" nature of these questions - I'm sleep deprived, have forgotten all the rules because I haven't been doing it everyday - and well, I never knew some of these anyway. Yes, these are dumb questions.


1) Are seasons capitalized, yes or no?

2) If you start a sentence with a word like 'unfortunately,' does a comma follow?

3) None of the kids LIVE in our school district or LIVES in our school district?

4) Edit this sentence... "She responds well to firm yet upbeat personalities, i.e. a lot of "affect." Am I using i.e. properly? The word I want to use is AF-fect. Do I have the right word? Does that word make sense to you?

5) Peroid always inside the quotations at the end of a sentence, right? Or no?

Please Help!! Thank you so much!!!

1) No.

2) Yes.

3) Lives.

4) I'm confused on the sentence on what you're trying to convey.

5) Yes, inside.

Disagree on #3... it should be live.
None of the kids LIVE in our school district or LIVES in our school district.
Read it both ways. It should be live.
They (Kids) live. He lives.

No, 'kids' is not the subject of the verb. 'Kids' is the object of the preposition 'of.'
'None' is the subject of the verb. 'None' is singular, so the verb is 'lives.'
 
beardpuller said:
I was taught that "none lives" is correct. None is indeed the subject and is another way of saying "not one." If you were to say: "Not one of the students lives in our district," it would be pretty clear that "lives" is the way to go.

IMO that is the clearest explanation for lives and one I can fully agree with.
 
When I was in college I wrote a subhead for the school paper's lead story that said "Majority Say They Oppose New Rule."

For years I've kicked myself over that because it was an otherwise perfect section.

After reading this thread, I don't feel so bad because probably few people caught that.
 
Lugnuts said:
21 said:
Oy, stop. You're both kidding.

Lugz, I don't think 'affect' is what you're looking for here. Why not just say she'll respond better to a firm teacher. The more detail you add, it's going to sound like you're shopping for a perfect teacher.

Oh, and I would go with 'none lives' but I would be the world's worst editor, so who knows.


I wish I could post the whole thing here, but in the interest of privacy, I just can't.

The school district has asked me to do this. They actually *want* help putting her with the right teacher. My daughter is smart, she's beautiful, she's gonna knock 'em dead in life... but she's got a problem. It's treatable, and it's not chronic. But I'm not shopping for a teacher-- they *want* my help. I'm also sending her to kindergarten at age 4. The cutoff here is Jan. 1, unlike anywhere else in the country. After a lot of thought, we've decided to go ahead and send her instead of holding back a year. She's starting to read, and I just don't think it's fair to keep her back from an academic standpoint. Besides which, she really wants to go.

On the teachers... as for the firm thing, firm would be good, stern would not be. One of her preschool teachers this year comes from a military background, and my daughter loves her. But the woman has the Poppins-type way of speaking. She doesn't take **** of the kids, yet she's bright and sunny... make sense?

Makes sense. But they only have so many teachers, they'll take your insight and try for the best fit, right? Everything you wrote on this thread was more descriptive than 'affect.' You want someone positive and upbeat and strong and confident...not a softie pushover.
 
Lugnuts said:
When I was in college I wrote a subhead for the school paper's lead story that said "Majority Say They Oppose New Rule."

For years I've kicked myself over that because it was an otherwise perfect section.

After reading this thread, I don't feel so bad because probably few people caught that.

A minority of readers catches that type of thing.
 
;D

I dropped affect. You guys were right-- something was amiss with using that word. I like what I wrote-- kept it short and sweet.

I think there are 5 different kindergarten teachers at this elementary school. I'm ready to just roll with it.

Thanks again.
 
Lugnuts said:
4) Edit this sentence... "She responds well to firm yet upbeat personalities, i.e. a lot of "affect." Am I using i.e. properly? The word I want to use is AF-fect. Do I have the right word? Does that word make sense to you?

"She responds well to firm, yet upbeat personalities." you need a comma after firm.
I.E. would be used instead of for example. I'm not sure what you're going for with "affect." Affect is a verb, so "a bad teacher will affect your daughter negatively." Effect is a noun, so "the effect of a passive, ill-tempered teacher was my daughter never participated in class."
 
Spartan Squad said:
Lugnuts said:
4) Edit this sentence... "She responds well to firm yet upbeat personalities, i.e. a lot of "affect." Am I using i.e. properly? The word I want to use is AF-fect. Do I have the right word? Does that word make sense to you?

"She responds well to firm, yet upbeat personalities." you need a comma after firm.

That cannot be right. No comma.
 
Spartan Squad said:
Lugnuts said:
4) Edit this sentence... "She responds well to firm yet upbeat personalities, i.e. a lot of "affect." Am I using i.e. properly? The word I want to use is AF-fect. Do I have the right word? Does that word make sense to you?

"She responds well to firm, yet upbeat personalities." you need a comma after firm.
I.E. would be used instead of for example. I'm not sure what you're going for with "affect." Affect is a verb, so "a bad teacher will affect your daughter negatively." Effect is a noun, so "the effect of a passive, ill-tempered teacher was my daughter never participated in class."

The form of affect she wanted to use is a noun (as she notes - AF-fect). She's already said she's going to reword that part, though.
 
AF-fect in that usage is indeed a noun ... one that maxes out the "highfalutin' affect" scale, though!
 
21 said:
Spartan Squad said:
Lugnuts said:
4) Edit this sentence... "She responds well to firm yet upbeat personalities, i.e. a lot of "affect." Am I using i.e. properly? The word I want to use is AF-fect. Do I have the right word? Does that word make sense to you?

"She responds well to firm, yet upbeat personalities." you need a comma after firm.

That cannot be right. No comma.

No comma, that compound construction is all part of the same prepositional phrase 'to firm yet upbeat personalities.'
The object of 'to' is 'personalities,' and you wouldn't separate the object from the prepostion with a comma.
 
Buck said:
21 said:
Spartan Squad said:
Lugnuts said:
4) Edit this sentence... "She responds well to firm yet upbeat personalities, i.e. a lot of "affect." Am I using i.e. properly? The word I want to use is AF-fect. Do I have the right word? Does that word make sense to you?

"She responds well to firm, yet upbeat personalities." you need a comma after firm.

That cannot be right. No comma.

No comma, that compound construction is all part of the same prepositional phrase 'to firm yet upbeat personalities.'
The object of 'to' is 'personalities,' and you wouldn't separate the object from the prepostion with a comma.
I stand corrected. I looked it up after I posted and I'm pretty sure your right. I hate comma rules.
 

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