Grammar

The former.

Should of course be in the Spelling thread. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Incredibly enough, we don't have one. I'll start one.

https://www.lfgss.com/thread113258.html

Hopefully looking for a quick answer...

A full complement of beauty products await/awaits regardless.

Await, right?

Many gratitude.

Awaits - the agreement is with the 'a full complement' not the 'beauty products'.

Indeed. Cheers.

'Full complement' is a bit of a tired phrase. You never hear of anything *less *than a full complement. A bit like the government offering a 'full enquiry'.

I'm writing a travel review Will where I'm expected to use tired terminology and gushing language, so the client chose the right knackered man.

Other than preference for what I consider flow, I have no firm argument why I'd like this sentence,

'...an elderly lady well wrapped up against London’s chill while inching her mobility-scooter home asked whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups'.

To read like I intended and not include the commas others are insisting on below,

'...an elderly lady well wrapped up against London’s chill, inching her mobility-scooter home, asked whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups'.

Too much hesitation in the wrong places, I think. Is there a rule that makes the case for either being correct?

I much prefer your sentence, because, as you say, it flows significantly better and imho sounds more poetic. I guess it depends on the purpose. Interestingly (I think, anyway) in my experience in the legal world, by general consensus and "house style" commas are not used except in lists. Which runs contrary to the grammar I have been taught, such as I have been, but does at least illustrate that it is horses for courses.

tl;dr: depends on where it's being used, stick to your guns, yours sounds better.

[Oliver to come along shortly and provide a real answer]

I much prefer it too and have to admit to getting antsy about the suggested change.

The second one reads much better. The first may in fact have something wrong with it. I think you need commas in both cases.

I.e. '...an elderly lady, well wrapped up against London’s chill while inching her mobility-scooter home, asked whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups'.

I fancy that's the best compromise.

'...an elderly lady, well wrapped up against London’s chill, asked whilst inching her mobility-scooter home whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups'.

? I do tend to go mad with my comma gun, I will, admit.

Other than preference for what I consider flow, I have no firm argument why I'd like this sentence,

'...an elderly lady well wrapped up against London’s chill while inching her mobility-scooter home asked whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups'.

To read like I intended and not include the commas others are insisting on below,

'...an elderly lady well wrapped up against London’s chill, inching her mobility-scooter home, asked whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups'.

Too much hesitation in the wrong places, I think. Is there a rule that makes the case for either being correct?

I'd re-write it slightly to:

'...an elderly lady, wrapped up well against London’s chill, asked whether I could spare one of my precious roll-ups when I encountered her (as she was/in the process of etc. if you want to make it clearer who does this) inching her mobility scooter home'.

Minimises commas and flows better, I think. The other version tried to pile too many things on top of one another in the wrong order. Mobility scooter should not have a hyphen.

Generally, if you feel that there's a lack of clarity and you can't get rid of any of the elements, don't hesitate to expand slightly to explain their relation with one another. Also think about splitting it up into shorter sentences if possible--English gives you very little help (compared to, say, German) in constructing complex sentences. Obviously, cutting out elements, if possible, is often the best option. It's often hard to rethink a sentence that you've just written, though.

I much prefer your sentence, because, as you say, it flows significantly better and imho sounds more poetic. I guess it depends on the purpose. Interestingly (I think, anyway) in my experience in the legal world, by general consensus and "house style" commas are not used except for in lists. Which runs contrary to the grammar I have been taught, such as I have been, but does at least illustrate that it is horses for courses.

tl;dr: depends on where it's being used, stick to your guns, yours sounds better.

[Oliver to come along shortly and provide a real answer]

Thanks for the advance hype. :)

I'm afraid not using commas except for lists is a rather daft rule, as commas can fulfil vital grammatical functions. Surely they can't mean to leave them out as radically as that? The standard example is constructions like this:

The brakeless rider who was skidding along the road ended up stopping more quickly than the other brakeless rider, who jumped off his bike and fell into the ditch.

There's probably quite a lot of places on-line which explain this sort of case. If, like me, you like books, Fowler's is a very concise guide and a must-have.

For me, the first sentence only works on the 2nd reading. On the first reading I go a little lost without the commas.

I prefer this...dramatic voice

'...an elderly lady, well wrapped up against London’s chill while inching, her mobility-scooter, Home asked whether I could spare one of my precious, roll-ups'.

'...a youthful poster, well-hidden behind his computer, while squeezing out of his keyboard the last dramatic words of one of his specious troll-ups'.

My thoughts exactly. :)

Quite, but I was being truthful about your first sentence.

I am dyslexic and often need to reread sentences, so take what you will.

I was just joking. :) I thought your post was quite a nice parody of the old 'put a comma where you'd pause' 'rule'.

Tire vs. tyre ?

When talking about the rubber things that go on wheels.
I tend to use american spellings by default because they generally go about writing english like its spoken.

Which for a dyslexic is help.

A tyre on a wheel is a tyre on a wheel both sides of the atlantic.

I'm not saying your wrong but Goodyear seem to disagree.
http://www.goodyear.ca/en-CA/tires/tire-guide/winter-tires-vs-allseason-tires

Maybe you should write to them about their error?

gosh. perhsps should learn to use google before presenting my assumptions as fact.
Wire the americans so bad at spelling?