Is the folllowing sentence correctly punctuated?
Could someone please tell me if I've correctly punctuated the following sentence (specifically, if I've correctly used the dash and commas highlighted bloew)? Also, is the period at the end of the word "voice" better served by a comma or semicolon?
My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful when I heard a voice. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Thank you!
Alex
commas quotations dashes
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Could someone please tell me if I've correctly punctuated the following sentence (specifically, if I've correctly used the dash and commas highlighted bloew)? Also, is the period at the end of the word "voice" better served by a comma or semicolon?
My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful when I heard a voice. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Thank you!
Alex
commas quotations dashes
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Dashes set off parenthetical insertions, so you need a "closing" dash somewhere. And "for nearly two uneventful" doesn't make sense.
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
The reason a closing dash is important is because there are two possible meanings: "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful years —when I heard a voice," or "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink—for nearly two uneventful hours, when I heard a voice."
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
Ah, I see. In the boded example, it sounds as if the skating rink has served as the world's largest outdoor rink for two years. Is that correct? Thanks for your help, Andrew!
– Alex K
2 days ago
add a comment |
Could someone please tell me if I've correctly punctuated the following sentence (specifically, if I've correctly used the dash and commas highlighted bloew)? Also, is the period at the end of the word "voice" better served by a comma or semicolon?
My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful when I heard a voice. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Thank you!
Alex
commas quotations dashes
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Could someone please tell me if I've correctly punctuated the following sentence (specifically, if I've correctly used the dash and commas highlighted bloew)? Also, is the period at the end of the word "voice" better served by a comma or semicolon?
My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful when I heard a voice. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Thank you!
Alex
commas quotations dashes
commas quotations dashes
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
asked 2 days ago
Alex K
121
121
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex K is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Dashes set off parenthetical insertions, so you need a "closing" dash somewhere. And "for nearly two uneventful" doesn't make sense.
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
The reason a closing dash is important is because there are two possible meanings: "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful years —when I heard a voice," or "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink—for nearly two uneventful hours, when I heard a voice."
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
Ah, I see. In the boded example, it sounds as if the skating rink has served as the world's largest outdoor rink for two years. Is that correct? Thanks for your help, Andrew!
– Alex K
2 days ago
add a comment |
1
Dashes set off parenthetical insertions, so you need a "closing" dash somewhere. And "for nearly two uneventful" doesn't make sense.
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
The reason a closing dash is important is because there are two possible meanings: "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful years —when I heard a voice," or "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink—for nearly two uneventful hours, when I heard a voice."
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
Ah, I see. In the boded example, it sounds as if the skating rink has served as the world's largest outdoor rink for two years. Is that correct? Thanks for your help, Andrew!
– Alex K
2 days ago
1
1
Dashes set off parenthetical insertions, so you need a "closing" dash somewhere. And "for nearly two uneventful" doesn't make sense.
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
Dashes set off parenthetical insertions, so you need a "closing" dash somewhere. And "for nearly two uneventful" doesn't make sense.
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
The reason a closing dash is important is because there are two possible meanings: "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful years —when I heard a voice," or "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink—for nearly two uneventful hours, when I heard a voice."
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
The reason a closing dash is important is because there are two possible meanings: "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful years —when I heard a voice," or "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink—for nearly two uneventful hours, when I heard a voice."
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
Ah, I see. In the boded example, it sounds as if the skating rink has served as the world's largest outdoor rink for two years. Is that correct? Thanks for your help, Andrew!
– Alex K
2 days ago
Ah, I see. In the boded example, it sounds as if the skating rink has served as the world's largest outdoor rink for two years. Is that correct? Thanks for your help, Andrew!
– Alex K
2 days ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
The sentence is very long and just doesn't flow very well, since it contains both a description of something (the skating rink) and things happening (patrolling & hearing the voice).
Also, as already noted in the comments, "skating rink for nearly two uneventful when" doesn't make sense. I assume you meant that you were patrolling for two uneventful hours.
Here's my attempt to fix it up:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal, a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow which serves as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Or alternatively, if you must use dashes:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow—serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Alex K is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f479112%2fis-the-folllowing-sentence-correctly-punctuated%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The sentence is very long and just doesn't flow very well, since it contains both a description of something (the skating rink) and things happening (patrolling & hearing the voice).
Also, as already noted in the comments, "skating rink for nearly two uneventful when" doesn't make sense. I assume you meant that you were patrolling for two uneventful hours.
Here's my attempt to fix it up:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal, a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow which serves as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Or alternatively, if you must use dashes:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow—serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
add a comment |
The sentence is very long and just doesn't flow very well, since it contains both a description of something (the skating rink) and things happening (patrolling & hearing the voice).
Also, as already noted in the comments, "skating rink for nearly two uneventful when" doesn't make sense. I assume you meant that you were patrolling for two uneventful hours.
Here's my attempt to fix it up:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal, a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow which serves as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Or alternatively, if you must use dashes:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow—serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
add a comment |
The sentence is very long and just doesn't flow very well, since it contains both a description of something (the skating rink) and things happening (patrolling & hearing the voice).
Also, as already noted in the comments, "skating rink for nearly two uneventful when" doesn't make sense. I assume you meant that you were patrolling for two uneventful hours.
Here's my attempt to fix it up:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal, a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow which serves as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Or alternatively, if you must use dashes:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow—serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
The sentence is very long and just doesn't flow very well, since it contains both a description of something (the skating rink) and things happening (patrolling & hearing the voice).
Also, as already noted in the comments, "skating rink for nearly two uneventful when" doesn't make sense. I assume you meant that you were patrolling for two uneventful hours.
Here's my attempt to fix it up:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal, a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow which serves as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
Or alternatively, if you must use dashes:
My partner and I were tasked with patrolling the Rideau Canal—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow—serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink. We had been patrolling for two uneventful hours when I heard something. “This way!” shouted a voice in the distance.
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
answered 2 days ago
Aaron Franke
1014
1014
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
add a comment |
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
Hi Aron, Correct. Sorry, I accidentally forgot to include the word, "hours". As a general rule of thumb, is it preferred to separate a description of something and a description of things happening? Thanks for your help!
– Alex K
2 days ago
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
IMO yes but I'm not sure if this is an English thing, seems more of a general language thing to split up an idea into separate thoughts.
– Aaron Franke
yesterday
add a comment |
Alex K is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex K is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex K is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Alex K is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f479112%2fis-the-folllowing-sentence-correctly-punctuated%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
Dashes set off parenthetical insertions, so you need a "closing" dash somewhere. And "for nearly two uneventful" doesn't make sense.
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
The reason a closing dash is important is because there are two possible meanings: "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink for nearly two uneventful years —when I heard a voice," or "My partner and I had been patrolling the Rideau Canal Skateway—a nearly 8 km stretch of ice and snow, serving as the world's largest outdoor skating rink—for nearly two uneventful hours, when I heard a voice."
– Andrew Leach♦
2 days ago
Ah, I see. In the boded example, it sounds as if the skating rink has served as the world's largest outdoor rink for two years. Is that correct? Thanks for your help, Andrew!
– Alex K
2 days ago