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Anonymous Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Commas and fragments

Hi,

In,

"I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of my previous engineering roles, but competition is what truly motivates me. I also relish the process of perfecting a difficult skill. Be it, out-manoeuvring an astute opponent at the poker table or executing a text-book cover drive in a cricket match."

and,

"I scored exceptionally well on experimental modules that required significant academic writing. Writings that explain complex ideas similar to how an attorney would explain problems with the prior art that an invention is aiming to solve."

Is the last sentence of each paragraph a fragment? By its own it makes no sense. But taking into consideration the previous sentence, it does. Am I taking the definition of a fragment to literally?

Are the comma in the last sentences of each paragraph right? In the first paragraph, "Be it" is introductory so a comma follows right? In the second one, I feel a comma should come before similar, but then its an independent clause, dependent cluase. Which is wrong???


thanks

  

Top answer

Yes, those are fragments. More standard English is this. "I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of my previous engineering roles, but competition is what truly motivates me.

— Clive

  • Yes, those are fragments.
  • More standard English is this.
  • "I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of my previous engineering roles, but competition is what truly motivates me.
  • " and, "I scored exceptionally well on experimental modules that required significant academic writing.
  • " I don't understand the italic portion of #2.
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4 Answers
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Yes, those are fragments. More standard English is this.

"I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of my previous engineering roles, but competition is what truly motivates me. I also relish the process of perfecting a difficult skill, be it out-manoeuvring an astute opponent at the poker table or executing a text-book cover drive in a cricket match."

and,

"I scored

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Thanks you very much for your answer.


about the italic portion, prior art is known knowledge, and I was trying to say, I can explain complex ideas like how an attorney would explain the complication issue of how a new invention is a novel concept that's builds on previous knowledge.


this is for a cover letter btw.


what other words could you use instead of "I m

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Thanks again Clive,


"Prior art" is an industry term that attorneys use. Are you saying the word is unclear or the whole fragment?

I agree, giving an example that is work related would be better. Its just that my previous jobs didn't really involve developing an artist skill as such, and is one of my motivations for a career change. They were just tasked based engineering roles

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Oh I should have said earlier, I'm an engineer, but this cover letter is for a career change to becoming a patent attorney. Thanks for your help, anyhow

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