Do either of these two sentences need commas? please rewrite them with commas inserted if they do and/or notify of any other problems with the sentences.
1) They might argue that neither people nor the government really have any business interfering in the way they raise their children.
2) Instead they might build up animosity towards their parents or people in general.
2007-02-19 21:03:50 · 4 answers · asked by Dre D 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Homework Help
1)They might argue that neither the government nor other people have any business interfering with the way they raise their children.
No commas are necessary. However, since the government is made up of people and there are also people outside the government, one should use the specific set (the government) as the first object and those outside the set (people), which should include a modifier (other) to distinguish it from the first object (the government) as the second modifier.
2) Instead, they may built up animosity toward their parents and people in general.
It never hurts to put a comma after the word "Instead" or the word "However" at the beginning of a sentence. This sets apart the beginnning of the sentence, showing that it is referring to whatever was described in the first sentence. I frequently use a semicolon between the two related sentences when "instead" is going to be the first word of the second sentence, as in: "I don't speak Fench well; instead, I read Proust in bad translations". Always play around with the use of "might" and "may". I don't remember the specific grammatical rule to which this refers, but I know this sentence is much better with the word "may". There may also be a problem with the word "toward". I know this has to do with the rules for singular, plural and collective nouns. The first object, "parents", is plural. I seem to remember some counterintuitive stuff about plural verb forms having no "s". So if I'm right, take the "s" off the word "towards". Colloquially one says to a friend: "I have strong feelings towards you", not "toward you" and "you" is a singular pronoun, which is why I have this idea in my head. I may be wrong about this. It's been a long time since I looked this one up. Also, unlike the first sentence, in this case the second object (people) already has a modifier (in general) distinguishing it from the first object (parents) which also has a specific modifier (their), so you don't need to add a word like "other".
Show this answer to your teacher, citing your source. Your teacher is probably not expecting this sort of critique----which really has nothing to do with commas (although that may have been the trick). I'm not sure even the teacher understands the real problem with the sentences (modifiying two objects). They (deliberate use of the singular "they" as a new form to replace the cumbersome "s/he" or "he/she"---experts are fighting over its adoption now) may be also be able to answer my question about the form of "toward", of which I would appreciate being reminded. The fact that you went on Yahoo!Answers to learn the answer is not in any way cheating but shows that you care enough to do computer research---and the fact that I didn't just correct the sentences for you but have forced you to read this dry but useful grammatical crap shows that I'm not willing to just do your homework for you. The more elegant and streamlined you can make a sentence (which is not to say that you should embrace minimalism or fail to be "purple" in your use of descriptive modifiers), the more likely you are to be successful in written communication.
I might argue that developing animosity toward your parents or the government in general is a healthy normal trend given the state of society at the moment.
2007-02-19 22:05:33 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
They might argue that neither the people, nor thr government realy have business with interfering the way they raise their children.
Instead, they might build up animosity towards their parents or people in general.
I think that's right now, I could be a little wrong.
2007-02-19 21:09:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
a million- I even have 3 English instructors whom I meet on line. One is from Scotland and the different 2 are from London. 2- I even have travelled in easy terms around Asia, yet have under no circumstances been to Europe.
2016-09-29 08:57:10 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first sentence needs no commas.
In the second sentence, after "instead", put a comma.
Other than that, you're cool. Good Luck...
2007-02-20 04:32:08 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋