September 10, 2009, 11:55
BobHaleAnother punctuation exercise
This is a passage that I came across some years ago. The challenge is just the same as in zm's post - punctuate the passage.
To avoid helping each other I'll say the same thing he did, send your attempts to me via pm and I'll collate them.
quote:
dear john
i want a man who knows what love is all about you are generous kind thoughtful people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior you have ruined me for other men i yearn for you i have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart i can be forever happy will you let me be yours
jane
September 10, 2009, 15:04
wordmaticMine's in.
WM
September 10, 2009, 19:38
<Asa Lovejoy>dear jane,
i think you would be very happy with archie the cockroach
http://www.donmarquis.com/archy/September 16, 2009, 14:49
BobHaleAs a few of you noted in your PMs and as zm mentioned elsewhere, the passage is deliberately written to provide two opposite interpretations.
They are, of course, as follows.
(Minor variations occurred in all the submitted versions.)
quote:
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart. I can be forever happy. Will you let me be yours?
Jane
and
quote:
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior! You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we are apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Jane
Poor Jane seems rather ambivalent about her feelings. Maybe that's why she left the punctuation out in the first place.
September 16, 2009, 20:19
KallehYour text shows that punctuation sometimes is necessary; zmj's showed that sometimes it isn't.
September 16, 2009, 23:04
BobHaleI'm not so sure that mine shows that.
I can punctuate it perfectly well with just the Newline character
dear john
i want a man who knows what love is
all about you are generous kind thoughtful people who are not like you
admit to being useless and inferior
you have ruined me
for other men i yearn
for you i have no feelings whatsoever
when we are apart i can be forever happy
will you let me be
yours jane
OR
dear john
i want a man who knows what love is all about
you are generous kind thoughtful
people who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior
you have ruined me for other men
i yearn for you
i have no feelings whatsoever when we are apart
i can be forever happy will
you let me be yours
jane
September 17, 2009, 02:10
Richard Englishquote:
I can punctuate it perfectly well with just the Newline character
Except that the omission of conventional punctuation means that nine lines are required rather than three. So, whereas it is possible to do without normal punctuation, as these examples have shown, punctuation is an aid to both clarity and brevity - which is no doubt why it arose.
September 17, 2009, 06:17
<Asa Lovejoy>Would someone telling a former lover to get lost sign it, "Yours, Jane?" That's not been MY experience! There's ambiguity in both renderings, IMHO.
September 17, 2009, 06:22
zmježd Would someone telling a former lover to get lost sign it, "Yours, Jane?"Probably not, but maybe so. It's not a real letter, dear John or otherwise. It's something somebody cooked up to show how important punctuation is.
September 17, 2009, 11:02
BobHaleThe "Yours" would, in British usage at least, be the shortest and curtest way of signing off. In this letter it has a distinctly sarcastic sound about it.
zm, of course it is, but I feel that my newline only version shows that even in something as clearly contrived punctuation is no more than a matter of convention.