[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Arre guys, this is Indian style one way love where the guy hasn't told the girl, but he has confessed his feelings only among his male friends. His male friends are calling him secret lover, as if he is having an affair with a married lady.

Ahhhhh. Now I understood.

I wonder... what would be the correct word for a man who secretly loves a woman, hasn't told her, but told all his male friends?
Apart from coward, of course. I mean the correct term.

If you secretly love a woman, you are her _______________?

[mohit]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

When you really want something, the whole Universe conspires to make it happen.

Its OT but continuing on the secret theme, does 'The Secret' have anything to do with this?

BTW: Its tough to post in this thread, having to re-read everything 5 times to make sure the punctuations are in place. My English teacher would have blessed you guys!

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

If you secretly love a woman, you are her _______________?

secret admirer ?

[Mpower]

I think when you translate from vernacular, its ends up as secret lover.

Speaking of translation, its crazy when people translate "mei tumse pyar karta hun' as 'I make love to her' (in subtitles of course)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Secret admirer is just what I was thinking too, even though it is a bit 1950's-innocent. But it has two votes now.

The Victorian novel terminology is quite different, of course, and I still get a schoolboy giggle from reading, "He was making love to me all the way home in the coach, Mama!"

[revvedup]

Sorry gentlemen for interrupting your fill in the blanks exercise,so continuing my English class-

Originally Posted by anupmathur

You're welcome.
I notice you're not leaving a space after punctuation marks. There is a rule that requires you to.
And people's names must begin with a capital letter.
I think that should do for now. There are more 'mistakes' in your post; let's see you spot them.

Space after punctuation marks. Never heard of this before, and is this only a part of net etiquette or a more common rule. Again sorry for not writing your name with a capital letter,even after seeing that you did the same while writing it in your handle.
I rephrased what I wrote earlier , and I think the following should contain fewer errors if not any at all.

Thank you Anup sir for your advice. Sorry for posting the wrong spelling in my post, especially considering the fact that this is the Yeti Guide to Proper English thread. About the TOEFL, do you think any other preparation is required ?

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by revvedup

Sorry gentlemen for interrupting your fill in the blanks exercise,so continuing my English class-

Space after punctuation marks. Never heard of this before, and is this only a part of net etiquette or a more common rule. Again sorry for not writing your name with a capital letter,even after seeing that you did the same while writing it in your handle.
I rephrased what I wrote earlier , and I think the following should contain fewer errors if not any at all.

Oh Lord have mercy. Look at the paragraph you wrote.

Everyone has always used one space after any punctuation mark. How could you never have heard of this before? It is not a common rule, it is the basic law of written English!

Secondly, you, my over enthusiastic child, are now using a space before and after the punctuation. A big no-no.

Lastly, under no circumcisions will you ever need to have a comma before and. That is a bigger no-no.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Speaking of translation, its crazy when people translate "mei tumse pyar karta hun' as 'I make love to her' (in subtitles of course)

Main tumse pyar karta hun should be translated as I do love to you or I am doing love to you.
And then all Goan Catholics in Hindi movies say Hum tumse shaadi banayega. I will make marriage to you.
Oh what a tragic waste of time, lol.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by revvedup

Never heard of this before, and is this only a part of net etiquette or a more common rule.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Lastly, under no circumcisions will you ever need to have a comma before and. That is a bigger no-no.

I've come across several instances of using a comma before "and".

EDIT : "When to Use a Comma before "And""

[Thad E Ginathom]

Hmmm... Interesting link, but I think the example given is wrong.

I'd say,

Miguel took piano lessons for sixteen years and, today, [He] is an accomplished performer.

Why? because 'today' is subordinate: the sentence might not make quite the same sense without it, but it can be removed without destroying any grammatical structure.

I don't feel that the 'He' makes sufficient difference, but I do not remember my grammar lessons well enough to argue the point technically.

As for lists, I seem to recall some controversy, but I think my school teaching was that a comma does not precede the 'and' before the last item.

This cardboard box is available in red, orange, green and purple.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by revvedup

Space after punctuation marks. Never heard of this before, and is this only a part of net etiquette or a more common rule.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Everyone has always used one space after any punctuation mark. How could you never have heard of this before? It is not a common rule, it is the basic law of written English!

Like Sam said, it is a common rule of written English to use a space after using a punctuation. And IIRC (from my typing classes in school) you are supposed to use two spaces after using a period aka full stop. However, our forum software doesn't allow us to do that & automatically removes the extra space left.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

As for lists, I seem to recall some controversy, but I think my school teaching was that a comma does not precede the 'and' before the last item.

This cardboard box is available in red, orange, green and purple.

Yes, you're right about that, it does not precede the 'and' before the last item.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Hmmm... Interesting link, but I think the example given is wrong.

I'd say,

Miguel took piano lessons for sixteen years and, today, [He] is an accomplished performer.

Why? because 'today' is subordinate: the sentence might not make quite the same sense without it, but it can be removed without destroying any grammatical structure.

I don't feel that the 'He' makes sufficient difference, but I do not remember my grammar lessons well enough to argue the point technically.

As for lists, I seem to recall some controversy, but I think my school teaching was that a comma does not precede the 'and' before the last item.

This cardboard box is available in red, orange, green and purple.

there are cases when a coma is required in lists before and ...

a ) when you dont want the last two items to seem to be linked with each other

"We offer manufacturing, sales and support"

such a sentence would imply that sales and support are offered only together , and not independently

b) To avoid ambiguity

"I would like to dedicate this song to my parents, Eminem and Britney Spears"

which would indicate that eminem and britney were my parents

there are more examples

[revvedup]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Oh Lord have mercy. Look at the paragraph you wrote.

Everyone has always used one space after any punctuation mark. How could you never have heard of this before? It is not a common rule, it is the basic law of written English!

Secondly, you, my over enthusiastic child, are now using a space before and after the punctuation. A big no-no.

Lastly, under no circumcisions will you ever need to have a comma before and. That is a bigger no-no.

OH Lord of the Yetis
I only used a space before a comma only once which I think was more due to confusion rather than over-enthusiasm. Unlike you and Ishaan I have not had any experience in leaving spaces after punctuation marks, and hence was rather surprised on hearing about the same. This may also be due to the fact that in written English there is nothing called a spacebar and hence spaces after punctuation marks are very often overlooked. Another reason could be that since you have twice the experience of what I have; the probability of you hearing about the same is twice that of mine.

Also IMHO a comma after 'and' is completely legal when it is used to join two independent clauses.
circumcisions

[Thad E Ginathom]

We offer manufacturing, sales and support.

We offer manufacturing, sales, and support.

We offer manufacturing, sales and support.

I believe there are instances of 'artistic licence' in this particular rule. The emphasis may be changed by the presentation, and that seems a valid part of the writer's art.

However there is no excuse whatsoever for mentioning Eminem and Britney Spears in the same sentence. That is simply unacceptable.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by revvedup

OI have not had any experience in leaving spaces after punctuation marks, and hence was rather surprised on hearing about the same. This may also be due to the fact that in written English there is nothing called a spacebar and hence spaces after punctuation marks are very often overlooked.

Baba, the space came before the spacebar. None of us learned English on the internet. When Thad and I were learning to write, there were no accessible computers and no World Wide Web.

Every school teacher teaches you to leave a little space after a full stop, comma, question mark and every other punctuation mark. It isn't a question of experience. It is simply a question of going to school.

Which is why we are all surprised.