[Grammar] Comma after otherwise and some other questions

[Inspiring]

Hi everyone! I have 3 questions:


1) 'Limit your time online. otherwise(,) one day you'll find yourself having np friends, completely alone'. Should I put a comma after 'otherwise' in this sentence?

2) 'Tomorrow I'm meeting my friends' parents - I really want to create a good impression'. Is there a mistake? I had wrote that 'make a good impression' would be correct, but the examiner dismissed my correction and marked former variant as grammatical.

3) 'IT-breakthrough' or 'IT breakthrough'. Should there be a hyphen or not?

Thanks beforehands.

 

[GoesStation]

For 1, I'd write "Limit your time on line. Otherwise, one day you'll find yourself completely alone with no friends." Note the space between "on" and "line". This is a case where the adjective is one word, "online", but the noun is a two-word phrase.

For 2, you were correct. "Create a good impression" is not natural.

For 3, the hyphen might be possible. It's impossible to say without a complete sentence. This could be a similar case to "on line" versus "online". "IT-breakthrough" isn't a common adjective, but that's how I would spell it if I were using it as one. As a noun, it should be "IT breakthrough".

Finally, you should write "Thanks in advance."

 

[Inspiring]

For 1, I'd write "Limit your time on line. Otherwise, one day you'll find yourself completely alone with no friends." Note the space between "on" and "line". This is a case where the adjective is one word, "online", but the noun is a two-word phrase.

Thank you!

1) At the moment I can't change this sentence, it's an exctract from essay that has already been checked, but I'm going to appeal against some corrections. I will definetily take note, but what's more important for me now is should there be a comma or not?

3) The full sentence is "I decided to go deep into this issue and review all pros and cons of IT breakthrough". I used this phrase as a noun, so was it correct then?

 

[GoesStation]

Sentence 1 was 'Limit your time online. otherwise(,) one day you'll find yourself having np friends, completely alone. There's a period after "online", which is the right place for one. "Otherwise" needs to start with a capital O and should be followed by a comma. I assume you've noticed the typo in "no".

For 3, "IT breakthrough" does read like a noun. The sentence does not make sense to me though, unless "IT breakthrough" is a proper noun like the name of a product. If it is, "Breakthrough" should be capitalized. If you're writing about breakthroughs in IT in general, you need to rewrite the sentence.

Other issues in sentence 3: You go deeply into something, not "deep". There should be a definite article before "pros".

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Inspiring.

In future, please ask unrelated questions in separate threads.

 

[Inspiring]

Sentence 1 was 'Limit your time online. otherwise(,) one day you'll find yourself having np friends, completely alone. There's a period after "online", which is the right place for one. "Otherwise" needs to start with a capital O and should be followed by a comma. I assume you've noticed the typo in "no".

For 3, "IT breakthrough" does read like a noun. The sentence does not make sense to me though, unless "IT breakthrough" is a proper noun like the name of a product. If it is, "Breakthrough" should be capitalized. If you're writing about breakthroughs in IT in general, you need to rewrite the sentence.

Other issues in sentence 3: You go deeply into something, not "deep". There should be a definite article before "pros".

Thank you once again! It's a shame that I made so many foolish mistakes :-(

This article on Computer Weekly confused me because of the title (I saw it before writing the essay and word 'breakthrough' hadn't been capitalized there)

Welcome to the forum, Inspiring.

In future, please ask unrelated questions in separate threads.

Thank you for welcoming. Got it.

 

[GoesStation]

"Breakthrough" is normally capitalized if it begins a sentence, if it's in a title, or if it's part of a name. In the latter case, it's a proper noun. Don't capitalize it in any other case.

Your sentence was "I decided to go deep into this issue and review all pros and cons of IT breakthrough." This would make sense only if it were revised like this:

I decided to go deeply into this issue and review all the pros and cons of IT Breakthrough. When I read the revised sentence, I think "OK, IT Breakthrough must be the name of a product. Maybe it's a piece of software."

If you're writing in a general way about innovations or "breakthroughs" in information technology, the sentence does not make sense.

 

[Inspiring]

I was writing about breakthroughs in general, and now I see my mistake. I'm very grateful for your answers.

Mods, you can close this thread, my issue is solved.