this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Correcting the reviewer.
Notes: "should of" isn't valid, should implies a verb, of isn't a verb. I expect you meant "should have". Please recall this in future submissions.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They should of course keep that in mind, but it's not that "should" should always be followed by a verb directly. The problem is that "of" in this context is a mishearing/spelling of "have", so they should in this case have written it like that instead.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love that you used "should of" in a valid sentence.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Except that it would be "they should, of course,".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I would argue that "should of" is just a naive written rendition of the spoken contraction "should've". They are homophones, so it's a completely understandable error among those without the relevant education or background. I know only English and was in Grade 9 at a different school before someone corrected me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Notes: “should of” isn’t valid, should implies a verb, of isn’t a verb. I expect you meant “should have”. Please recall this in future submissions.

😏

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

should implies a verb, of isn't a verb

"should" and "of" should probably be in quotes here?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

A question mark does not fit the sentence, which is a statement ("they should." rather than "should they?"). While question marks are commonly used to demonstrate a rising tone at the end of a sentence, its not considered correct for formal writing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A-ha, but this most decidedly not formal writing! UNO REVERSE CARD.

But on a more serious note, I did intend it as a sort of question because I'm not 100% sure, because the rules for quote use might well be different in English than my native language. I actually also don't know the rule for question mark usage in English; is it generally considered a crime against orthography to plonk a question mark on something that's a statement, or is it valid in some cases?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's totally valid in most cases. It's technically only supposed to be used for a question, but language is based on how it's most commonly used, with those "rules" only applying in extremely formal situations. With the prevalence of informal text-based communication, many people use it to indicate being unsure, like how you used it. I just wanted to continue the chain of grammar corrections (which is why I used the wrong "its"/"it's" at one point). Also, you were right about the quotes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It’s technically only supposed to be used for a question, but language is based on how it’s most commonly used

Ah, I see you're also a descriptivist 😀

But yeah I know you were just continuing the joke; I'm a language nerd (well, general nerd really) and I just got curious about what the rule actually is. While English orthography rules related to punctuation usually seem to be pretty much the same as with Finnish, the rule for question marks seems to be more relaxed in Finnish because it can "officially" be used to mark any expression as a question. The rules for commas are also different, ours are closer to German and we tend to spray commas everywhere