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A question about punctuation?
"This is most unusual," said Jorge."The mail has never come late before."
"Return to your seats," said the teacher,"so we may continue the lesson." so why use period after Jorge but comma after teacher?
Jorge spoke two delimited sentences, whereas the teacher's one sentence continues over to the second set of quotes.
A simpler explanation...
"This is most unusual." "The mail has never come late before." These are two sentences, not one. "Return to your seats so we may continue the lesson." This is one sentence, not two. "So we may continue the lesson" would be a fragment, not a sentence on its own.
That makes sense! But how can I know that's two sentences or one, just like you, put them separately, if you can understand them both, that will two sentences?
Hmm, Nick, what is your native language? If you speak a Western European language like French, Spanish, or German, you might be able to understand this more easily.
Anyway... it's really quite basic and for all speakers of Western European languages, it comes about by instinct: "This is most unusual." That is naturally a sentence. There's a subject and a predicate. "This" is the subject and "is most unusual" is the predicate. The same thing works in French: "Cela c'est très bizarre." "The mail has never come late before." Same as above. This comes naturally as a sentence. "The mail" is the subject and "has never come late before" is the predicate. On the other hand, "So we may continue the lesson" is not a sentence, but only a fragment. The word "so" is what makes this a fragment because it obviously requires that something comes before it: an explanation of the conditions under which the lesson may be continued. "Return to your seats so we may continue the lesson" would be in French: "Rétournez à vos places pour que nous puissions continuer la leçon." As in English, "pour que nous puissions continuer la leçon" would be a fragment and not a sentence. The obvious requirement is, as in English, an explanation of the conditions under which "nous pourrons continuer la leçon." Anyway, Nick, sometimes instinct is the most convenient way of making sence of sentences. Certainly, everything can be explained by grammatical rules, but instinct is very important too. Fortunately, English tends to share many general patterns with other Western European languages in general, so it shouldn't be all that hard to develop a feel for the logic (or lack thereof) of this wacky language. (Disclaimer: I'm not European. I'm Chinese.)
As I stated above, the same logic would apply in French. This might show what I mean a bit more clearly:
"Cela c'est très bizarre." "Le courrier n'est jamais arrivé en retard." (two sentences) If these two sentences were put together, they would result in a run-on sentence. "Rétournez à vos places pour que nous puissions continuer la leçon." (one sentence) If this sentence were separated between "places" and "pour", the second half would be a fragment. (Disclaimer once again: I'm not European. I'm Chinese.)
<<"Return to your seats so we may continue the lesson."
This is one sentence, not two.>> Let's see what we get in German: ''Kehrt zu euren Plätzen zurück, so daß wir den Unterricht fortsetzen können.'' In the first part, the part before the comma, there's no subject. Note that the verb is ''zurückkehren'', englisch ''to return'', which is splitted in two parts here. The second part is called ''Nebensatz'' in German, with the auxillary (here a modal verb) in the last position.
I actually meant:
In the first part, the part before the comma, there's no subject. Note that the verb is ''zurückkehren'', englisch ''to return'', which is splitted in two parts here. The second part of the sentence -- not the second part of the word ''zurückkehren'' -- is called ''Nebensatz'' in German, with the auxillary (here a modal verb) in the last position. It's always better to reread many times before posting. |