Reece

Question

First of all let me explain that I am not unintelligent per se, I am just having difficulty with a few things here and there. One of the main things I am having difficulty with is using a comma after the word "and".

Could you please tell me if the sentences and there structure so far are correct?

1) I think that this is quite a good forum because it offers help to those who need it, and it also is quite well laid out.

2) Today I went shopping to the supermarket. I bought some eggs, flour, margarine, and a pastry cutter.

3) In hindsight, I think I should have payed more attention when I was in school, as I am now not so sure about my grammar.

Note: On the third point, there is no "and" in the sentence, but I was wondering if I was right in placing a comma after the word "school".
(Question mark at the end?)

Grammar is an important thing to me and I am always trying to improve.

Can you please provide me with some constructive criticism on my sentences, their structure as well as my grammar?

Many thanks in advance,
Reece

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Hello, Reece.

One of the main things I am having difficulty with is using a comma after the word "and".-- I suppose that you mean a comma before 'and'.

Could you please tell me if the sentences and there structure so far are correct?

1) I think that this is quite a good forum because it offers help to those who need it, and it also is quite well laid out. -- OK, because each clause has a subject. If there is only one subject, then there is no comma, like this: ' I think that this is quite a good forum because it offers help to those who need it and is also quite well laid out.'

2) Today I went shopping at the supermarket. I bought some eggs, flour, margarine, and a pastry cutter. -- The 'serial comma' (after 'margarine') is usually included in BrE style, but omitted in AmE style unless confusion otherwise ensues.

3) In hindsight, I think I should have paid more attention when I was in school, as I am now not so sure about my grammar. Note: On the third point, there is no "and" in the sentence, but I was wondering if I was right in placing a comma after the word "school".-- This is often a style choice: it depends on how critical you feel the following clause relates to the previous one. I would use the comma myself.

(Question mark at the end?-- No.)
Can you please provide me with some constructive criticism on my sentences, their structure as well as my grammar?-- They seem unnoteworthy to me: they are fine. I have fixed the 2 small errors.

Anonymous · Answer

Hello, Mister Micawber.

I have just noticed that I typed my name into the subject box; how amateur of me.

Thanks for responding to me question so soon, I appreciate that very much.

One thing I picked up on in particular is that you corrected my sentence about me going to the supermarket. Without sounding out of position, could you explain to me why it is "shopping at the supermarket" and not "shopping to the supermarket"?

Thanks again.

Mister Micawber · Answer

'Going' is a verb of movement and its direction is to the market. 'Shopping' happens at the market.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AnonymousI think I should have payed more attention when I was in school, as I am now not so sure about my grammar.

I just want to make one comment. The past tense and participle of "pay" is "paid". Payed - is not a word.

JohnParis · Answer

Dimsum's correct (as always) about the past tense and participle of "pay" being "paid".
But, in fact, "payed" is a word. However, its meaning is so far off the grid of this discussion that I only mention it because I once spent a summer helping restore a sail boat that needed to be payed.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pay--2?q=payed

I had forgotten the word until this very moment.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Dear John, ( Funny, where did I hear that before?)

Well, until I have a sail boat to restore, chances are I will never use the word "payed" in that context. When I said, "it is not a word", what I actually meant was, a word that I recognize in modern English. But I've learned a new "old" word today!

Mister Micawber · Answer

If you're not a sailor, you might not use it of course, dimsum, but plenty of us do, and not just as a part of seamanship. It also serves us when unreeling all sorts of lines, ropes and cables.

...of a cable to the VCR, he carefully screwed the jack in, then payed the cable out, walking toward the aisle in the center of the room.
...are is taken to avoid tangles and flipped boards. Tow lines are then payed out until the desired length is achieved.
...eight-inch ****** of decking between gunwale and cabin. # When the line had been payed out to its final ten feet, he threw a figure eight around the bow
...from about 10 to 18 m as a function of the amount of trawl warp payed out and therefore indirectly as a function of depth.
...replaced the currentinfeed cable with a much longer one that would be payed out from a reel as the device was moved.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

No, I am not a sailor nor one with a sail boat. So the nautical use of "payed" was foreign to me. But like I said, I learned a new use of the word. I have no idea we have so many sailors among us.

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressNo, I am not a sailor nor one with a sail boat.

Do you fish?

- A.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Yes, I like fishing. I used to go fishing at late nights and early mornings at the Pacifica Pier with a good friend of mine. It was cold and foggy and no one wanted to come with us. But we enjoyed it. He has passed on for many years. I only fish now with my brother at his vacation home at Clear Lake once or twice a year. .

Reece

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