posted
I don't plan on this being some uber fan love-letter about Orson Scott Card. Inevitably, I foresee that it will become one, but I felt an intense desire to thank him personally.
I don't like coming Anon either, which is why I made a new username specifically to do this.
But, I hope Mr. Card reads this himself, because I'd rather not write to those who write about him, I'm writing to him, not necessarily to strike up a conversation with him, which is always an ulterior motive, if not the most prevalent, but rather to thank him for what his words have done for me, which is of course, what I'm doing, but this is talking to the people who write to him too.
... Yeah.
Dear Mr. Card.
In meeting new people, I find I have to do one of three things. Thank them, Repudiate them, or Help them. Of course, your words aren't new to me, I've read the Ender Series countless times, I've even spoken to you a few times, and you've actually answered me, so you're not really new to me. And I guess that's why you write in the first place. (just a guess)
Now I can't help you in any way, at least, not in my current situation, with my current abilities, with the current potentials in my life. Maybe my words could possibly validate you, if you had some doubt in yourself, but I can't see how that could happen either, but who knows.
I don't know how I could possibly repudiate you either, since I fully agree with you, or at least, what you've written, which I attribute to being YOU anyway....
But then, this was just a thank you letter anyway. Mr. Card, your words and ideas and thoughts have given light and revealed to me the memories of the constructs of things I have discovered in my own life, in my own wanderings, in my own treatises and extrapolations of God and the world. All of the ideas you've presented that I've heard are a part of me, you have drawn many maps, and I have been to many places, and I have followed some of your maps, and tried to make corrections on a few of them and help other people see them.
No, you're not necessarily the most influential figure in my life, (that goes to whomever it was I talked to last) though certainly at this moment, I write with you in mind, so I guess you are. Mmm, well, I contradict myself, but it's in the contrast of what I write or think that defines myself or what I do.
Heh heh, I'm getting away with myself. There's so much meaning and symbolism in everything everyone does, and you've helped me understand that and find that.
And so, all the Goodness I do in the World can be attributed to you, just as it can be attributed to anyone else who led me to think of what would be Good, but you helped me think of a LOT of it, so thanks.
And thanks to those who helped you understand it all too, but special thanks to you in that you managed to communicate it so thoroughly.
ah'ma go out and do stuff fer 'dis Gawd fella ... Thaynks mayahn. Thaynks.
(On the conversation we might have had before, I believe you were talking with me about the character Will in Wyrms, who had vested within himself the perception of how his Will affected where he went, and that he could choose how to be Will (lol, pun) or rather, Will (lol, more puns) to other people.)
Words are fun Orson Scott Card, thank you for helping me realize that.
Posts: 3 | Registered: Feb 2009
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: No, I think "HE whose" is acceptable.
Only acceptable insofar as using a single nominative pronoun as the complement of a preposition is generally acceptable (which is not at all).
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: You're missing a comma Jon Boy.
Man I've waited months for this!
No, I'm not, but you're missing two.
Seriously? I guess I could see how I could take my two statements and place them into one sentence. Is it acceptable to omit a comma before using parentheses?
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy: Uh . . . what? I didn't say anything about combining them into one sentence, and you're not using parentheses anywhere.
Standard practice is to set off interjections and direct addresses with commas, like so:
quote: You're missing a comma, Jon Boy.
Man, I've waited months for this!
I see, that makes sense. What I was asking was in regards to your statement.
quote:Only acceptable insofar as using a single nominative pronoun as the complement of a preposition is generally acceptable (which is not at all).
Is a comma not required after the word, "acceptable" in that sentence?
edit: Also, I had a teacher say that when one uses parenthesis or quotation marks, periods and commas must be inside them not out. Is that incorrect?
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
A comma is not required before the parenthesis there, because parentheses serve some of the same function as commas. A comma would just be superfluous there. Also, you don't need a comma after "word".
Your teacher was mistaken or was at least oversimplifying. If the material inside parentheses is a complete sentence, then it has an initial capital and a period or other final punctuation at the end before the right parenthesis. This also means that the sentence before it must have final punctuation before the left parenthesis, like so:
quote:This is an example sentence. (This is also an example sentence.)
However, my sentence looked like this:
quote:This is an example sentence (with some stuff tacked on at the end).
Does that make sense?
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Do you do anything in particular if there is a lot of stuff tacked on in the middle of a sentence, inside a parenthesis? For example,
"Commas can be quite confusing (unless you are Jon Boy in which case the rules and regulations governing their use is quite obvious) for most people."
quote:Also, you don't need a comma after "word".
Force of habit, that same teacher instructed me to place a comma before using quotation marks. Are commas incorrectly placed when found before a quotation?
----
El JT de Spang: I imagine I often place commas amiss in my wording, but what are you talking about specifically?
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Jon Boy: I see!
Do you do anything in particular if there is a lot of stuff tacked on in the middle of a sentence, inside a parenthesis? For example,
"Commas can be quite confusing (unless you are Jon Boy in which case the rules and regulations governing their use is quite obvious) for most people."
I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but that sentence looks fine to me, except I'd put a comma after "Boy".
quote:
quote:Also, you don't need a comma after "word".
Force of habit, that same teacher instructed me to place a comma before using quotation marks. Are commas incorrectly placed when found before a quotation?
Generally, you do use a comma before a quotation, unless the quotation is worked into the syntax of the surrounding sentence, as in
quote:Bob said that Steve was "a colossal idiot".
But if you're just putting quotation marks around a word or title or whatever, it doesn't need commas either before or after it.
quote:Jon Boy is overly fond of the word "cromulent".
quote:Jon Boy's favorite song is "Where the Streets Have No Name".
posted
I was taught that commas and periods go inside quotation marks, like this:
quote:Jon Boy's favorite song is not "Kinky Boots."
But I never liked that rule, and try to avoid putting things inside quotation marks that aren't part of what I'm quoting. I'll take Jon Boy's last two examples in the preceding post as official approbation of my policy.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: I was taught that commas and periods go inside quotation marks, like this:
quote:Jon Boy's favorite song is not "Kinky Boots."
But I never liked that rule, and try to avoid putting things inside quotation marks that aren't part of what I'm quoting.
Same here. My professors have pointed this out to me in my papers so now I have to consciously put the period inside the quotation marks for them. From what I've heard, American English puts commas and periods inside quotations but British English has the placement based more on logic. That coupled with the spelling differences between Englishes has confused me for life.
Posts: 973 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: I see, that makes sense.
A comma splice is two independent clauses joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction (and, or, for, but, et al.). It's a type of run on sentences.
Basically, you have two sentences here, and you're using a comma to make one run-on sentence.
You would just say: I see. That makes sense. Or: I see; that makes sense. Or: I see, and that makes sense.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by CRash: From what I've heard, American English puts commas and periods inside quotations but British English has the placement based more on logic.
That's fairly accurate.
However, there is a small but growing movement to free the commas and periods from unjust quotation mark imprisonment. Join us!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Personally, I never understood why grammar was (or is, I guess) so important on mediums such as the internet. As long as one's message is coherent, I don't think it matters.
Am I the only one who is bored of arguing about comma use?
(While I type this, I bet my English teacher is sitting in some random Borders or Barnes and Nobles, scowling at my latest essay, adding commas all over the place)
Posts: 28 | Registered: Mar 2009
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quote:Personally, I never understood why grammar was (or is, I guess) so important on mediums such as the internet.
Three reasons:
1) Because it CAN be an issue of clarity, even if the original poster doesn't realize it. 2) Some people find the English language beautiful, and regard its misuse as a sort of vandalism. 3) Because some people believe that since the only form of communication on the Internet is written communication, that written communication should be carefully done in a way that demonstrates respect for the reader. And that respect, in turn, demands that at least some attention to presentation be paid.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Fremen: Am I the only one who is bored of arguing about comma use?
The beauty of discussion boards (such as these) is that, if you aren't interested in what's being talked about, you're free to let your fingers do the walking to somewhere else.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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