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English: Help with grammar and spelling!

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11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
Honest
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 Message 1 of 11
26 June 2010 at 5:58pm | IP Logged 
Is there a comma after "students" in 1 and 2?

1- I believe that students issues with plagiarism need to be looked at.

2-What are the problems behind the students' plagiarism?


Is this correct: plagiarized or plagiarizes?

The parents should be investigated if their son plagiarized.

Edited by Fasulye on 27 June 2010 at 2:16pm

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Declan1991
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 Message 2 of 11
26 June 2010 at 8:05pm | IP Logged 
You mean an apostrophe? ' = apostrophe , = comma.
The first doesn't make perfect sense to me, but it should be, "I believe that students' issues with plagiarism need to be looked at" because there is more than one student.
It isn't very clear what you mean in the second one either, but it's a grammatical sentence, perfectly punctuated.
... if their son plagiarizes (well I'd say plagairises but that's because I'm Irish not American).

Edited by Declan1991 on 26 June 2010 at 8:06pm

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RedBeard
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 Message 3 of 11
26 June 2010 at 9:34pm | IP Logged 
As Declan1991 wrote, 1 is correct if you make "students" into "students'"
and 2 is correct, but awkward. (Do you mean: What kind of issues/problems would cause a student to plagiarize?)

Number 3 would be PLAGIARIZED if you only caught him once and otherwise he seems to be a good student. It would be PLAGIARIZES if you believe that he has a constant problem with it or has been caught several times.

Edited by RedBeard on 27 June 2010 at 1:27am

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psy88
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 Message 4 of 11
27 June 2010 at 1:17am | IP Logged 
Honest wrote:
Is there a comma after "students" in 1 and 2?

1- I believe that students issues with plagiarism need to be looked at.


This sentence could be correct if you used an apostrophe as in "I believe that student's issues with plagiarism needs to be looked at". This would mean that you are saying that a particular student has issues with plagiarism that need to be looked at.For example, You are concerned because John has been caught repeatedly in acts of plagiarism or similar behaviors.You believe that we need to look at his issues. Of course it really depends on what you were trying to say.
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zekecoma
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 Message 5 of 11
27 June 2010 at 1:58am | IP Logged 
I thought for example the ' is showing possession. I don't think it's showing possession
in that sense. When I was younger, I remember the English teachers told me that 's s' is
just a way to say "<word> is", if that's true it wouldn't make since in that sentence.

I believe it'd be better to remove the ' from students as it is plural and not indicating
possession.

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ALS
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 Message 6 of 11
27 June 2010 at 3:03am | IP Logged 
zekecoma wrote:
I thought for example the ' is showing possession. I don't think it's showing possession
in that sense. When I was younger, I remember the English teachers told me that 's s' is
just a way to say "<word> is", if that's true it wouldn't make since in that sentence.

I believe it'd be better to remove the ' from students as it is plural and not indicating
possession.


Er, yes it is showing possession. "Students' issues". Student's is one student with possession of something. Students is multiple students without possession. Students' is multiple students with possession.
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Declan1991
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 Message 7 of 11
27 June 2010 at 2:01pm | IP Logged 
Not really. It's showing the genitive case which occurs with possession, but also when two nouns come together. It could be rephrased to "the issues of the students". There has to be an apostrophe there for the sentence to be grammatically correct. I don't speak any Arabic, but it's the same in Irish, German and French.
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Honest
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Speaks: Arabic (Gulf)*, English

 
 Message 8 of 11
27 June 2010 at 2:17pm | IP Logged 
Declan1991 wrote:
You mean an apostrophe? ' = apostrophe , = comma.
The first doesn't make perfect sense to me, but it should be, "I believe that students' issues with plagiarism need to be looked at" because there is more than one student.
It isn't very clear what you mean in the second one either, but it's a grammatical sentence, perfectly punctuated.
... if their son plagiarizes (well I'd say plagairises but that's because I'm Irish not American).


Thanks! Sorry I meant apostrophe!


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