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Hela Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
punctuation and meaning
Dear teachers,
Is there a difference in meaning between these couple of sentences, please?
1a) Jane writes poetry every morning.
1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning.
2a) Peter said Ron was elected President.
2b) Peter said, “Ron was elected President”.
Have you got better examples to illustrate this point, please?
Thank you in advance,
Hela
Is there a difference in meaning between these couple of sentences, please?
1a) Jane writes poetry every morning.
1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning.
2a) Peter said Ron was elected President.
2b) Peter said, “Ron was elected President”.
Have you got better examples to illustrate this point, please?
Thank you in advance,
Hela
Top answer
1a) Jane writes poetry every morning. OK 1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning. Ironical 2a) Peter said that Ron was elected President.
- 1a) Jane writes poetry every morning.
- OK 1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning.
- Ironical 2a) Peter said that Ron was elected President.
- 2b) Peter said, “Ron was elected President”.
- OK
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8 Answers
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1a) Jane writes poetry every morning. OK
1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning. Ironical
2a) Peter said that Ron was elected President.
2b) Peter said, “Ron was elected President”. OK
1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning. Ironical
2a) Peter said that Ron was elected President.
2b) Peter said, “Ron was elected President”. OK
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So the difference between 1a and 1b is the tone which ironical?
What about the 2a and 2b, is there a difference in meaning? The difference I see is just the form of speech but not the meaning.
Would you have one or more examples where a punctuation signal can change the real meaning of a sentence, please?
All the best,
Hela
What about the 2a and 2b, is there a difference in meaning? The difference I see is just the form of speech but not the meaning.
Would you have one or more examples where a punctuation signal can change the real meaning of a sentence, please?
All the best,
Hela
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HelaDear teachers,
Is there a difference in meaning between these couple of sentences, please?
1a) Jane writes poetry every morning.
1b) Jane writes “poetry” every morning.
The mean
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To be painfully literal, this sentence:
Jane writes “poetry” every morning.
would mean that Jane sits down with a pen and paper and writes the word "poetry" every morning.
Jane writes “poetry” every morning.
would mean that Jane sits down with a pen and paper and writes the word "poetry" every morning.
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Actually, Anon, I can understand that meaning, but my take on the "poetry" is that the person writing it that way thought the poetry was not every good.
A similar use is that my husband smokes, but never in front of the children, so sometimes he goes outside to have "a vitamin" instead of a cigarette.
A similar use is that my husband smokes, but never in front of the children, so sometimes he goes outside to have "a vitamin" instead of a cigarette.
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I agree Geek, that is the way it would be read by 99% of people 99% of the time - I was just saying if you wanted to be strictly literal, it couldbe taken the other way.
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