Mixed Signals!

rml_16

with grammar skills like that, he may not want to talk to you...the red pen would be in full force....yikes.

Goodness me, you're rude. With written skills like yours I would keep quiet. Ellipsis is THREE dots, not four and there would be a space when you've finished with them. You might also like to consider some capital letters and perhaps, an exclamation mark after the word, "Yikes".

M'kay?

Whatever. There is that better?

There should really have been a comma between "there" and "is".

Ha... I just KNEW you were another Brit! :bigsmile:

Actually, there should be a period or semicolon.

It's actually a matter of opinion. Editors at The New Yorker, for example, would go for a comma while a collumnist at the NYT would easily be able to go for a semicolon. In truth, any form of full-stop punctuation would be fine.

Sorry. Nerd moment.

A comma would make it a run-on sentence. I have to vehemently disagree with the editors at the New Yorker in this case.

"There" is a full sentence and "Is that better?" is a full sentence. A comma breaks up a sentence, not two full sentences.

"There" in this context is not necessarily a full sentence. A comma indicates a pause as opposed to a stop. If you were speaking it aloud, you'd pause only momentarily. Either way would be fine, it depends on how forceful you are looking to make the "there" in the sentence. It would NOT, however, be a run on sentence. If properly punctuated with accompanying coordinating conjunction, a sentence can technically continue indefinitely.

Since the subject/predicate presence of the statement "there" is implied in this usage, one could use two techniques to make it a proper sentence without a period:

1. There; is that better?
2. There, is that better?

If you wanted to use a period, I would strongly advise the inclusion of the implied subject and predicate:

There it is. Is that better?

To add, a comma does effectively split two sentences if one uses the proper coordinating conjunctions.

I disagree. But that's fine. :-)

DoingitWell

Maybe he is seeing someone else but I do understand that you don't want to seem clingy when all you want is just some clarity on the situation.

Quasita

with grammar skills like that, he may not want to talk to you...the red pen would be in full force....yikes.

Goodness me, you're rude. With written skills like yours I would keep quiet. Ellipsis is THREE dots, not four and there would be a space when you've finished with them. You might also like to consider some capital letters and perhaps, an exclamation mark after the word, "Yikes".

M'kay?

Whatever. There is that better?

There should really have been a comma between "there" and "is".

Ha... I just KNEW you were another Brit! :bigsmile:

Actually, there should be a period or semicolon.

It's actually a matter of opinion. Editors at The New Yorker, for example, would go for a comma while a collumnist at the NYT would easily be able to go for a semicolon. In truth, any form of full-stop punctuation would be fine.

Sorry. Nerd moment.

A comma would make it a run-on sentence. I have to vehemently disagree with the editors at the New Yorker in this case.

"There" is a full sentence and "Is that better?" is a full sentence. A comma breaks up a sentence, not two full sentences.

"There" in this context is not necessarily a full sentence. A comma indicates a pause as opposed to a stop. If you were speaking it aloud, you'd pause only momentarily. Either way would be fine, it depends on how forceful you are looking to make the "there" in the sentence. It would NOT, however, be a run on sentence. If properly punctuated with accompanying coordinating conjunction, a sentence can technically continue indefinitely.

Since the subject/predicate presence of the statement "there" is implied in this usage, one could use two techniques to make it a proper sentence without a period:

1. There; is that better?
2. There, is that better?

If you wanted to use a period, I would strongly advise the inclusion of the implied subject and predicate:

There it is. Is that better?

To add, a comma does effectively split two sentences if one uses the proper coordinating conjunctions.

I disagree. But that's fine. :-)

I just figured I'd chime in because I have a degree in English and you previously qualified your opinion with majoring in the language study. The official stance is that commas can be appropriately used to break up independent statements when used with conjunctions. It's a pet peeve of mine when someone tries to qualify themselves with their field of study and uses their opinion to represent everyone in the field. It's kind of important to understand a concept like this especially if you are pursuing a writing or grammar concentration :P