[EDLING:588] RE: Spanish question

[Mar at GSE.UPENN.EDU]

As a native speaker of Spanish, that sentence is perfectly possible.

Mar Galindo
University of Alicante
Spain




Mensaje citado por Miriam E Ebsworth <mee1 at nyu.edu>:

> I've also found that the famous comma splice is perfectly fine in
> British English but can get you into big trouble in the good old USA.
> My Anglo-Welsh spouse says we're 2 people separated by a common
> language.
> Yup.
> Miriam
>
> Miriam Eisenstein Ebsworth, Ph.D.
> <MEE1 at nyu.edu>
> Director of Doctoral Programs in Multilingual Multicultural Studies
> New York University,635 East Building
> 239 Greene St., New York, NY 10003
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Federica Barbieri <Federica.Barbieri at NAU.EDU>
> Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 4:25 pm
> Subject: [EDLING:584] RE: Spanish question
>
> > I am a native speaker of Italian, and as far as I know, in
> > Italian, as in
> > Spanish, it is fine to connect two independant clauses with a
> > comma. I was
> > never taught that is is wrong and I have seen that many times in
> > formal
> > written Italian (e.g., editorials and newspaper articles in major
> > newspapers).
> > In fact I was surprised to see it marked as an error when I firts
> > got here in
> > the States. My impression is that British English is more flexible
> > than
> > American English in this respect (run-ons, etc.). I would guess
> > that
> > punctuation is not universal and is culture-dependant...
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Federica
> >
> >
> > >===== Original Message From edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu =====
> > >(Apologies for multiple posts)
> > >
> > >In teaching English writing to international students, we teach
> > that a
> > >sentence like:
> > >"I am a lawyer(,) it is a good job."
> > >is a "run-on" sentence (with or without the comma).
> > >Reason = because two independent clauses/ simple sentences like
> > these two
> > >halves need to be connected with some type of coordinating
> > conjunction, or
> > >separated by a semi-colon or other sentence-final punctuation.
> > Not the most
> > >eloquent explanation, but you get the picture.
> > >
> > >Over the years, I have had several (otherwise highly educated)
> > Spanish-
> > >speakers from various countries tell me that this construction is
> > acceptable>in Spanish. I studied Spanish for many years and was
> > never told this,
> > although
> > >perhaps because the English rules for connection/separation are also
> > >acceptable in Spanish, they transferred into my Spanish writing
> > w/o a problem
> > >and the language difference just went undetected.
> > >
> > >So I ask: in formal written Spanish (or other languages, for that
> > matter), is
> > >this "run-on" construction acceptable? Or has it just become so
> > pervasive
> > that
> > >it's never questioned and erroneously considered to be
> > "standard"?  We
> > >certainly do that in English with sentence *fragments* such as
> > "And I
> > agreed."
> > >(as well as in the previous question I just started with "Or".)In
> > speech it's
> > >different obvously, but in a grammar/writing class, technically,
> > this would
> > >get marked "incorrect," even though it's visible in just about
> > every piece of
> > >written composition on the market, from newspaper articles to
> > textbooks, etc.
> > >
> > >What's the scoop?
> > >
> > >Thanks,
> > >Laura
> > >
> > >
> > >--
> >
> > *****************
> > Federica Barbieri
> > Research Assistant, Office of Academic Assessment
> > Northern Arizona University
> > 329 Peterson Hall BOX 4091
> > Flagstaff, AZ 86011-4091
> > Tel.: (928) 523 8655
> > email: Federica.Barbieri at NAU.EDU
> > http://www4.nau.edu/assessment
> >
> > PhD Program in Applied Linguistics
> > Department of English
> > Northern Arizona University
> > Liberal Arts Building, BOX 6032
> > Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6032
> >
> >
>




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