A place to help us all write better

How to repair a quote.

This is not really about writing well. However, since breaking a quote makes the post (and future quotes of that post) hard to read, it might be useful to learn that they can be fixed.

Many times, in snipping posts, part of the closing tag (or the whole closing tag) is deleted. This will make the quote appear to be part of the post proper, instead of being set off in a quote box. If, at the end of the quote box, you see something like "/quote]", then you have accidentally deleted the open bracket in the closing tag. Edit your post and put it back. If you have corrected the tags, the quote should appear in its box when you view the post.

If the whole closing tag is gone, edit the post and put it back. The closing tag that should appear at the end of the quote is "[/quote]".

Sometimes the opening tag is damaged. It should look like this "

name;post-number said:

". The post number is not necessary and just allows tracking back to the quoted post. (This is actually a really nice feature for following sub-conversations. Repeatedly click on the track-backs of posts until you get to the first post in the sub-conversation. Then use the forward button in your browser to read those selected posts in order.)

You don't need to repair the track-back number for the quote tag to work properly. You can use "

name said:

" for the opening tag, and it will work just fine. (This also allows you to attribute non-site quotes. After copying quoted text into your post, select it and click the cartoon bubble icon. Then add the words "=James Madison" (or whoever) to the opening quote tag.

Don't be afraid to fix broken quote tags. It isn't that hard, and you can't crash OCDO if you make a mistake. Just edit the post again.

I hope this helps!

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Ridiculous and ridicule have the same root. Ridicule has a distinctive short "i" sound in the first syllable, helping us spell it correctly. Even though ridiculous is usually pronounced with a schwa sound in the first syllable (or sometimes a long "e"), prompting folks to spell the word "rediculous," remembering that it is a form of the word ridicule will remind us that the first vowel is an "i."

Gunslinger said:

No matter how articulate/well educated/experienced (old) we are, there are always words that catch us. Committee is mine. Comittee is mine. Commitee is mine....see what I mean:>

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Oh, Gee! And I thought my 99% AFOQC English score would have saved me from that one!

Honestly, I didn't see it coming.

Do I really care, in the light of things?

Not particularly.

since9 said:

Oh, Gee! And I thought my 99% AFOQC English score would have saved me from that one!

Honestly, I didn't see it coming.

Do I really care, in the light of things?

Not particularly.

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I got a 790 on my verbal SAT. Fortunately, I didn't have to spell committee.

William Fisher said:

I'm bad with the I before e except after c spellings. The following is usually used.

i before e except after c
or when sounded like a
as in neighbor and weigh
​

There are exceptions though, such as neither, height, leisure, their and weird.

I seem to always have trouble with their (get in too much of a hurry). A big problem I have is with the correct use of commas.

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"i" before "e" except after "c" except in science and in half of the other cases!

Recommend is my Kryptonite.

Yes, I checked to make sure I spelled it right.