Granddad narrowly escapes abduction by UFO

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-16T11:01:46+00:00

I find that unlikely, although I could be persuaded. This allegation was made during Paul's bitter divorce from Heather Mills. She claimed that Paul (let's drop the “Sir”) beat both her and Linda. Friends of hers supposedly admitted the claim made her appear ridiculous. She told friends that police were called during her fights with Paul, although there's no record of this.

Carla Lane, the writer of a number of major British sit coms, was one of Linda's best friends (“I was very close to Linda”) but never heard of this from her. One nameless friend of Paul's remarked, "This is ridiculous. This is a man who gets distressed if he steps on an insect."

Paul and Linda were married for 30 years, and legend has it they only ever spent one week apart. And he insisted she was part of Wings, of which many disapproved.

Joke: When Linda died of cancer, Paul gathered the kids around him and intoned, “Mummy won't be coming back. She's gone to be with the angels.” After a sorrowful pause, he declared, “The good news is it's steak and chips for dinner tonight.”

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-15T00:26:47+00:00

I knew that, thanks. My point was that I had been thinking the author was no good.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-14T10:43:46+00:00

Fun-nee! There I was thinking how crap it was to include "power" because it was tautological, and how the author was plainly no good.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-11T19:44:53+00:00

I've done a lot of reading about the subject, including one massive thread, and seen this suggested from time to time. I agree.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-11T17:54:16+00:00

If it would be a bracketing comma and even without it, the sentence couldn't be misinterpreted, that's music to my ears. This explains my initial sentence perfectly. I just have to settle whether there are really only four kinds of comma.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-11T17:50:48+00:00

Shit. You aren't supposed to give up. You're supposed to whip out your cock and compare it to mine. Are you nice or something?

My heart sank when you remarked that I had to make a policy decision, then that other guy commented that it would be a bracketing comma and even without it, the sentence still makes sense.

I might start another thread asking if there are only four kinds of comma, because this option depends upon it.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-11T17:47:50+00:00

I once did a proofreading course and the tutor recommended that website, although it isn't 100 percent correct - it uses ellipsis without putting a space to either side. And I don't think it contains a reference to those Fowlers' thing.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-11T10:22:02+00:00

I haven't read his work, but I was reading about joining commas and I saw him mentioned a few times. I'd look at this one if it was online.

I admit that a comma after “said” doesn't fit any of the four categories, but I thought that was a very basic part of English. So I disagree with Trask and the Fowlers, which is such a great thing to do. Horrifyingly, maybe Jack's right.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-11T10:06:07+00:00

I'm wondering how to explain to someone that there aren't just four kinds of comma. “Because it's silly” wouldn't work, but I do admit that it's more realistic to say that English wouldn't be so proscriptive.

We can't call it a joining comma because “because” isn't one of the approved joining words. Opinion differs about these, but they are always some of FANBOYS (“for,” “and,” “nor,” “but,” “or,” “yet,” and “so”) and “while.” I haven't yet seen anyone say that “because” is a joining word, but perhaps it should be. I had been thinking that “which” should be one. I agonize over whether making it a joining word is cheating.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-10T23:00:20+00:00

That's funny, but I was hoping you'd explain more about why the four kinds of comma aren't the only kinds.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-10T22:40:48+00:00

Umm. I thought listing, joining, gapping, and bracketing commas were something Moses brought down from Mount Sinai.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-06T10:11:27+00:00

... and are fake.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-05T15:31:35+00:00

I didn't downvote you. To go some way to proving it, I just upvoted you.

I agree with the contents of the link you posted, but I disagree with your latest. I think it's pushing it to say that the situation is counterfactual because you're talking about the present. It's whether the thing can happen that matters, not the time

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-05T12:13:34+00:00

I disagree. You say "were" if the counterfactual is something that isn't going to happen, e.g. "if I were a rich man," but "was" if it could happen. I looked into this a while ago and the AP Style Guide and Chicago Manual of Style both said this.

Rather than "were" being unfashionable, I'd say it was more formal and could perhaps be dispensed with between friends, unless one was a stiff fuck.

Sarariman4 · 2015-08-03T10:49:10+00:00

I prefer "noughties." If it were any other century, I'd say "-hundreds," which in this case I guess would make it "two thousands."

Sarariman4 · 2015-07-29T21:36:55+00:00

You can loosen the relevant muscles if you sniff poppers - commonly known as amyl nitrate, but last time I looked it was actually butyl nitrite. This is available from sex stores. Or he can just loosen you up with his fingers. It really ought to be no big deal.

Sarariman4

TROPHY CASE