Meh. You guys are too smart for me. :-)
There a few ways to approach this one. I like two sentences myself, mostly because it is a wad of words to wade through as one sentence. (I also like alliteration, you might have noticed.)
Okay, North American style, two approaches...
Peter, while Paul had had "had had," had had "had." "Had had" had had a better response from the instructor.
Peter, while Paul had had "had had," had had "had;" "had had" had had a better response from the instructor.
UK style...
Peter, while Paul had had "had had", had had "had". "Had had" had had a better response from the instructor.
Peter, while Paul had had "had had", had had "had"; "had had" had had a better response from the instructor.
Notice the punctuation inside the quotations for North America, outside for the UK.
Also note that double quotations are now used for words as words, not single quotes, which used to be the most common style. You still see single quotes from time to time, but when The Chicago Manual of Style switched to double quotes, the use of single quotes gradually diminished.
Nuff lecturing.
Anybody got a comma they'd like to boot? A semicolon looking for a home? Random, threatening ellipses?
Sharon
Friday, May 22, 2009
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*brain just spontaneously combusted*
ReplyDeleteOh no. Please not the spontaneous comubusting brain! Stand back, folks.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, what kind of idiot would really write that sentence in something they wanted to publish?
Brains are safe.
This was meant to freak out aspiring punctuators (is that a word? If not, I'm claiming it), and writers who dabble in the very frustrating English language.
No matter how I read it still makes no sense to me. I don't understand what's trying to be said!
ReplyDeleteOops. Need a comma and a second "it" in that first sentence.
ReplyDeleteHi Bish. I think the exercise is likely referencing some study of past tenses, with the instructor clearly favouring past perfect. A couple of sentences to demonstrate how the "hads" could be used in a sentence might help.
ReplyDeleteSimple past sentence (one had).
It was a dark and stormy night. Bish had the phone to her ear when the lightening struck.
Past perfect sentence (two hads and the clear winner as far as the instructor thought).
I had been a dark and stormy night. Bish had had the phone to her ear when the lightening struck.
Does that help the exercis make sense? It's about the use of the past tense of "to have."
PS. Don't worry about misplaced commas or typos or whatever in the comment box. None of us can edit the puppies after we hit "Post Comment." Comments are like conversation, spontaneous, un-edited and low stress. :-)