VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE RESPOND

[katryxx]

How would you punctuate the sentence below? Edit, reword, rewrite as appropriate, but punctuation is what really counts. I'm known to be comma-happy, and I know there are too many included, but I can't figure out where to omit them to have the most correct sentence left. PLEEZ HALP.

The sentence:

For me, teaching in general, and the topic of

Comments

[gringo_in_tj]

I am a huge fan of the dash:

For me, teaching in general - and the topic of science in particular - necessarily involves a multidirectional flow of information.

But it will be interesting to see how others would deal with the elimination of commas where the commas seem necessary.

[katryxx]

Niiiice. I dig it, thanks.

[rkjunior]

I have to agree.

[aniccata]

Teaching in general--and the subject of science in particular--necessarily involves a multidirectional flow of information.

Those are em dashes, with which I have fallen in love. I think "for me" can be removed unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, because it's probably implied and I wouldn't use a comma before the em dashes.

[katryxx]

Ooh, awesome.

[katryxx]

Wait, are those single dashes or double dashes? Does it matter?

[cubetime]

They're em dashes. They're longer than the hyphen, the minus sign, and the en dash. In LaTeX, they can be created by typing---where you want the dash to occur. In MSWord, I think you type--between the words you want it to appear, and it converts that to an em dash automatically.

When punctuating with the em dash, do not include any spacing on either side. It should be immediately adjacent to the surrounding words.

[napalmmk9]

For me teaching in general, and the topic of science in particular, necessarily involves a multidirectional flow of information.

Just ditch the first comma.

Or instead of "For me," use "I find" or "I believe" or "I feel."

[katryxx]

I've cut the "for me" completely so far, and it's working MUCH better. Thanks, doll.

[ridiculicious]

the em dashes work, but the "necessarily" doesn't seem to be the right word, it's not working I think for what you mean? and the subject verb agreement should be "involve" because it's teaching and the subject of science which are plural.

Here's what I think you mean to say. "I think to teach the sciences, one should involve the multidirectional flow of information."

In other words, I would rewrite the sentence.

[katryxx]

Most simply, I'm trying to state that, "Teaching involves the multidirectional flow of information." That's what I'm trying to say, in personal yet professional language. I include the necessarily to emphasize that it's my personal opinion that it is so. That's where the already-edited-out "for me" came in. Ha!

I've been officially crowned the Most Overblown Superfluous Adjective Queen of the Department of Redundancy Department. Thank you for your help!

[ridiculicious]

Well, it's always about that keep it simple stupid law.

So with that said -- what the heck is a multidirectional flow of information?

[emamio]

"Teaching is crazy and shit, requires a muthafuckin' assault on the senses and operational amplifiers with feedback loop gain. Muthafuckaz. And shit."

[katryxx]

YES, EXACTLY.

I am still laughing out loud. May I include you as a reference?

[emamio]

F'sho'

I like that too...

[alphaomega_007]

I am with him considering that I can relate to this entery.