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nawee · Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 400

Hello,

I can't find a mistake in the following passage.

"Strength, steadiness, and san-froid are essential traits for a president, [u][u]who must handle tough choices on a routine basis and brutal choices more often than anyone would like to[/u]. Bush and Kerry, so different in mamny ways, do share this crucial attribute: [u]crisis seems to bring out the best in them[/u]. [u]Neither shows any tendency to get panicky or weak-kneed when things go wrong[/u], and [u]once they set a course[/u] they can be extraordinary tenacious in pursuing it.

The mistake must be in 1 of the 4 underlined phrases. I found the original text on USNews.com and saw only 2 differences.
1. The original text doesn't have "to" after would like.
2. The "C" in "crisis" was capitalised after the colon.

Well, I think "to" at the end of the sentence isn't very neat, but is it considered wrong? I thought it was ok in spoken English.

And in British English, people tend not to use a capital letter after a colon, whereas it is a common practice in American English. So, to me, it's not really wrong either. Just different usage.

Please enlighten me. I don't have an answer key for this exercise.

Nawee

Mister Micawber · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 774 Location: Yokohama

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Nawee, there are too many typographical errors in your transcription-- and the underlined portions are not clearly enough marked-- to make any assessment of the actual errors you are seeking.

Could you please proofread this passage carefully and re-submit it?
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_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

pinenut · Joined: 16 Feb 2006 Posts: 165 Location: Illinois, U.S.A.

Mister Micawber · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 774 Location: Yokohama

nawee · Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 400

A proofed copy of the text in question.

"Strength, steadiness, and sang-froid are essential traits for a president, who must handle tough choices on a routine basis and brutal choices more often than anyone would like to*. Bush and Kerry, so different in many ways, do share this crucial attribute: crisis seems to bring out the best in them. Neither shows any tendency to get panicky or weak-kneed when things go wrong, and once they set a course they can be extraordinarily tenacious in pursuing it."

I believe this text is taken from USNews.com. On that website, it says "more often than anyone would like" without "to" and the word "crisis" is capitalised. (The text appears as an error identification exercise as I retyped it above)

1. Is "to" after "would like" in this sentence inappropriate?

2. Should "crisis" be capitalised after the colon?

Thank you,

Nawee

ClarissaMach · Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:45 am Post subject:

Mary W. Ng · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 261

Mister Micawber · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 774 Location: Yokohama

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Are you confused yet, Nawee? Once again, your corrected quote:

nawee · Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 400

2. Should "crisis" be capitalised after the colon? -- Majuscules do not normally follow a colon in AmE; it is more common in BrE.
-- My original supposition is the opposite actually. (",)

I read in Oxford's Practical English Usage (Michael Swan) that in AmE, colons are often followed by capital letters, as is this sentence on USNews.com, and that in BrE it is unusual for a capital letter to follow a colon. I thought I would check with a native speaker to be sure.

Nawee

Mister Micawber · Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 774 Location: Yokohama

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I see what you mean, Nawee (sect 454 of Swan), but I would not have believed it. It may be a matter of one's milieu or field of interest. I myself have never capitalized after a colon (unless of course it is a proper noun), and my Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (U. of Chicago) does not use the majuscule after a colon either-- nor does the punctuation manual in the back of my Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

Well, whatever the relative probabilities, we can agree with Swan that both ways are used in both Englishes-- and so all permutations are presumably OK... which leaves you still looking for errors in the passage, doesn't it?

Frankly, I don't see any.
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_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

CP · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 2875 Location: California

The rule I follow for capitalization after a colon: If it is a full sentence, or if it begins with a proper noun, then capitalize. If not, not.

I've seen that rule in some style manuals, and it makes sense to me. I may be wrong, but I admit it in advance and will take my punishment like a man, unless I decide to follow some different rule.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

nawee · Joined: 29 Apr 2006 Posts: 400

Yes, Mister Micawber, I'm still looking for the error in that text.

I have just realised one thing. "Extraordinary" in my first post wasn't a typo I made personally. That's how it's written (typed) in the exam paper. However, the "typo" wasn't underlined, so it's not part of the sections in which the error is supposed to be, which could mean 2 things:

a. The designer of the paper regards "to" as inappropriate (As you said, some grammarians don't like it. This error identification question is from an English test, whic is part of a scholarship exam in Japan. Maybe they are very strict about these things there, I don't know.) or

b. The original test paper has a mistake: the error is not underlined.

I don't know which it is, so I have decided to mention all the points discussed in this post ("to", capitalisation (or not) after a colon, etc).

Many thanks to everyone who has taken time to contribute.

Nawee