Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2008 20:00:11 GMT
The race is for six, seven and eight year olds. or The race is for six, seven and eight years old
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 30, 2008 20:14:16 GMT
The race is for six, seven and eight year olds. or The race is for six, seven and eight years old Hello, Fsamps. Not the second version, because it doesn't really make sense. As far as the first version's concerned, I'd hyphenate it thus: "The race is for six-, seven- and eight-year-olds." I recommend that you await a few other opinions before deciding, though.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jun 30, 2008 20:22:58 GMT
I agree with Twoddle.
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Post by Tone on Jun 30, 2008 20:27:11 GMT
>I agree with Twoddle.<
I almost agree -- but you all know that which I'd add! (HOC)
But: I wonder if, alternatively, we could lose the commas entirely? "The race is for six- seven- and eight-year-olds."
Tone
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Post by Twoddle on Jun 30, 2008 20:36:01 GMT
>I agree with Twoddle.<I almost agree -- but you all know that which I'd add! (HOC) But: I wonder if, alternatively, we could lose the commas entirely? "The race is for six- seven- and eight-year-olds." Tone I'd rather add an extra (and unneccesary) comma than lose them all! But this is probably confusing Fsamps - trust Tone to do that! Fsamps, Tone is suggesting either using an extra comma (known as the Oxford comma, Harvard comma or serial comma) after "seven-" or, alternatively, dropping the commas altogether. His first idea is a possibility; his second should be ignored.
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Post by Tone on Jun 30, 2008 20:51:05 GMT
>- trust Tone to do that!<
Thanks, Twoddle. 'Tis nice to be trusted!
Tone
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Post by Pete on Jun 30, 2008 22:16:06 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 30, 2008 23:59:56 GMT
fsamps: Welcome!
I, too, agree with Twoddle's approach.
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David
New Member
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Post by David on Jul 2, 2008 10:35:23 GMT
Hello fsamps,
Twoddle's answer is perfectly fine. The only thought I had was that unless you specifically wanted to list the seven-year-olds, as the ages are consecutive it could be expressed as a range:
The race is for six- to eight-year-olds.
Slightly less cumbersome, maybe?
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Post by Dave M on Jul 2, 2008 13:04:53 GMT
Mmm ... I know what you mean, Dave, but that somehow doesn't sound comfortable. I keep wanting to put an ess on "year". (Perhaps just lack of familiarity with what sounds a very sensible construction.)
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jul 2, 2008 13:14:18 GMT
Seems OK to me. Of course, one could say "The race is for children who are six, seven or eight years old".
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Post by Pete on Jul 3, 2008 22:01:05 GMT
Seems OK to me. Of course, one could say "The race is for children who are six, seven or eight years old". Paul, this is recasting. I am a great fan of that but you usually are not, on the basis that recasting doresn't answer the question.
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jul 4, 2008 1:13:21 GMT
Call me fickle, Pete!
Depends on the question, really. If someone wants to know the best way to say something, I'd happily suggest a recasting. If someone wants to know why something is how it is, suggesting a recasting doesn't help.
Sometimes it's hard to know which type of question it is!
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Post by Pete on Jul 4, 2008 13:05:38 GMT
Call me fickle, Pete! Depends on the question, really. If someone wants to know the best way to say something, I'd happily suggest a recasting. If someone wants to know why something is how it is, suggesting a recasting doesn't help. Sometimes it's hard to know which type of question it is! This may be an unwarranted digression, but I think they are the same. In the main, the real question should be, "How do I communicate this concept unambiguously and clearly?" Sometime the answer is to punctuate properly, sometimes it's a syntax issue and sometimes the real answer is to write it a different way (a bit like the old joke about not starting from here).
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Post by Paul Doherty on Jul 4, 2008 16:32:48 GMT
This may be an unwarranted digression It is, I'm afraid. I've started a new thread on the main board.
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