Timeline for Why is using 'this' mid-sentence incorrect?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 22, 2015 at 21:58 | review | Close votes | |||
| Nov 27, 2015 at 3:03 | |||||
| Nov 22, 2015 at 21:39 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Possible duplicate of Comma splice question | |
| Nov 21, 2015 at 12:24 | comment | added | David Hoelzer |
Here's another reason: which is a connective while this is not. A connective (yet, which, etc.) can be used to indicate that the clause that follows is actually a part of the current thought (and sentence). Using this instead turns it into a run-on sentence with a comma in it. :)
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| Nov 20, 2015 at 23:30 | comment | added | MichaelS | @Martin Bean, Darren Gourley: The OP isn't stating it's never correct for the word 'this' to appear mid-sentence. They're asking about a specific usage, where it's seemingly incorrect mid-sentence, and seemingly correct at the beginning of a sentence. The title can only include so much information about what's being asked, which is why there's a body to the question. | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 23:28 | answer | added | jobermark | timeline score: -1 | |
| S Nov 20, 2015 at 21:22 | history | suggested | CommunityBot | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
removed "thanks", removed ALL CAPS emphasis, made "mid-sentence" consistent throughout
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| Nov 20, 2015 at 21:16 | comment | added | Darren Gourley | Or the sentence you wrote that violates your rules: "Of course, I may be completely wrong, and it's actually fine to use 'this' in this way." | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 20:43 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Nov 20, 2015 at 21:22 | |||||
| Nov 20, 2015 at 20:36 | comment | added | Martin Bean | Why is using ‘this’ mid-sentence deemed wrong? What about phrases like, “What do you think of this piece of art?” | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 17:54 | answer | added | Jimbo Jonny | timeline score: 0 | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 16:15 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglish/status/667737934741811200 | ||
| Nov 20, 2015 at 16:06 | comment | added | Emma | Thank you for all your help. I often try to get students to read their work aloud to 'hear' where the punctuation should go. Honestly, it's a job to get them to even proofread their essays (don't get me started on the misuse of even the basics like commas and apostrophes), and as a university teacher I only have very limited contact time with them in which to convince them of the importance of doing so. I will take your advice and condense it into a pithy 'Quickmark' for Turnitin (online marking system) and hope that at least one reads it. Or I may resort to sniping emails... | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 15:18 | comment | added | Ricky | @ralph.m. I beg to differ: the feedback loop is key. Listen to others/talk to others. Those who are excessively fond of hearing their own voices should use voice recorders. | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 15:17 | comment | added | Languagemaven | Fumblefingers raises a good point -- that writers will often wittingly use comma splices for rhetorical effect. However, I'm not sure how much of an effect they're really achieving in doing so (it's just a punctuation mark after all) and find the analogy of using a C-clamp to hold a sandwich together (while nice and vivid) hyperbolic to say the least. | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 15:10 | comment | added | ralph.m | @Ricky—yeah, I meant "listing to themselves". | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 15:00 | answer | added | user140086 | timeline score: 7 | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 14:32 | comment | added | Ricky | @ralph.m: Listening AND talking. Nothing registers without feedback loop. | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 14:21 | answer | added | Ricky | timeline score: 4 | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 14:14 | comment | added | ralph.m | You could throw all kinds of grammatical rules at your students—which usually has no effect—or encourage them to learn to listen. "The room is small, this indicates …" is awkward to pronounce as a running sentence, with a large pause between the two parts—the kind of pause that's indicated by a period. Punctuation is better learned through listening, imho. | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 13:59 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | As @Languagemaven points out, it's a "comma splice". But so is, for example, It's not a comet, it's a meteor. I rather like Barbara Wallraff's observation on that one: Punctuating this sentence with a semicolon would be like using a C-clamp to hold a sandwich together. My point being that you can't simply say It's a comma splice, that's why it's "ungrammatical". | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 13:58 | comment | added | TimR | The violation of punctuation conventions is easily addressed. A thornier problem is the fact that the referent for "this" is not always going to be clear. For that reason, it would be better to have the students avoid "this" and attempt to rephrase the idea, e.g. "The smallness of the room indicates..." | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 13:39 | answer | added | Languagemaven | timeline score: 27 | |
| Nov 20, 2015 at 13:30 | history | asked | Emma | CC BY-SA 3.0 |