Aims and goals

[Anna232]

This statement is from the book Express Yourself. By Duane Vorhees.

"It has been said that life is a game-but how can we play it if we don't know where the goalposts are?"

These statements are given for discussion puprposes. Should I use "the aim" or "an aim"? If I understand correctly, "the aim" would be understood as a generalisation. I am not sure if "you" can be used in essay promts too. And if using a comma without a conjunction is right.

My answer is the following: "In my opinion, the goalposts represent the/an aim in your life, the goals that you set for yourself. Similar to how you need to set goalposts to start playing a game, you need to find a purpose to start living a real, (and) exciting life.

 

[emsr2d2]

This statement The following question is from the book Express Yourself no full stop here by Duane Vorhees.

"It has been said that life is a game space here - space here but how can we play it if we don't know where the goalposts are?"

These statements are This question is given for discussion puprposes purposes. In my answer (which is below), should I use "the aim" or "an aim"? If I understand correctly, "the aim" would be understood as a generalisation. I am not sure if "you" can be used in essay prompts too. and if using a comma without a conjunction is right.

My answer is the following: "In my opinion, the goalposts represent the/an aim in your life; the goals that you set for yourself. Similar to how you need to set up goalposts to start playing a game of football, you need to find a purpose to start living a real, (and) exciting life.

Please note my corrections above.

I find the whole premise rather odd, given that there are hundreds of games that can be played without goalposts!
I'd avoid the entire question of choosing between "an" and "the" by saying "aims of/in your life".

 

[Anna232]

Please note my corrections above.

I find the whole premise rather odd, given that there are hundreds of games that can be played without goalposts!

I'd avoid the entire question of choosing between "an" and "the" by saying "aims of/in your life".

Yes, but could you tell me if either works? If I say "a purpose" I am talking about one unspecified purpose, but if I say "the purpose," it is either a specific one or a generalisation. Right?

Why is it wrong to use "and"?
"....ou need to find a purpose to start living a real, (and) exciting life."

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, but could you tell me if either works? If I say "a purpose" I am talking about one unspecified purpose, but if I say "the purpose," it is either a specific one or a generalisation. Right?

If you're assuming that a person has just one aim/goal in life, then you can use "the". Neither you nor the reader needs to know the specifics of it.

Why is it wrong to use "and"?
"... you need to find a purpose to start living a real, (and) exciting life."

Using both the comma (or, rather, just one comma) and "and" is the problem here. There are three ways to write this:

... start living a real, exciting life.
... start living a real and exciting life.
... start living a real, and exciting, life.

 

[Anna232]

If you're assuming that a person has just one aim/goal in life, then you can use "the". Neither you nor the reader needs to know the specifics of it.

Using both the comma (or, rather, just one comma) and "and" is the problem here. There are three ways to write this:

... start living a real, exciting life.
... start living a real and exciting life.
... start living a real, and exciting, life.

What confuses me the most is omitting "and" in the first example. I didn't know it is correct to omit "and" and using a comma, then an adjective and a comma after it in the third. Could you write the name of these usages so I could read more examples?

 

[emsr2d2]

What confuses me the most is omitting "and" in the first example. I didn't know it is correct to omit "and" and using a comma, then an adjective and a comma after it in the third. Could you write the name of these usages so I could read more examples?

There is no "name" of this usage. It's just punctuation. The more you read good quality English, the more you'll get to learn how to punctuate correctly (and how many different ways there are to punctuate the same sentence and get a different meaning!)

 

[Anna232]

There is no "name" of this usage. It's just punctuation. The more you read good quality English, the more you'll get to learn how to punctuate correctly (and how many different ways there are to punctuate the same sentence and get a different meaning!)

That's exactly what I am trying to find out. How does the meaning change? I wrote how I understand the first two sentences, but I don't undetstand the third one. Is my understanding of the first two sentences correct?

1. start living a real, exciting life. A pause after "real" emphasisez the word "real".
2.... start living a real and exciting life= a life that is both real and exciting.
3.... start living a real, and exciting, life. I don't understand the purpose of the commas used here

 

[emsr2d2]

That's exactly what I am trying to find out. How does the meaning change? I wrote how I understand the first two sentences, but I don't undetstand the third one. Is my understanding of the first two sentences correct?

1. start living a real, exciting life. A pause after "real" emphasisez the word "real".
2.... start living a real and exciting life= a life that is both real and exciting.
3.... start living a real, and exciting, life. I don't understand the purpose of the commas used here

The overall meaning doesn't change as such.

1. ... start living a real, exciting life. This can be read two ways:
a. ... a life that is both real and exciting.
b. ... a life that is exciting and, as opposed to an unreal exciting life, it is actually real.
(As an aside, if you're an AmE speaker and you remove the comma, it could be read as "... start living a very exciting life". In BrE, "real" would be "really".)

2. ... start living a real and exciting life. A life that is both real and exciting. They're given equal importance.

3. ... start living a real, and exciting, life. The use of commas here is similar to using brackets in the same place. The life is real and perhaps less importantly but certainly added as an additional opinion/fact, exciting. However, with the addition of two words, the opposite would be true. "... start living a real, and more importantly exciting,s life.

I wasn't trying to say that changing the punctuation in a sentence necessarily completely changes the meaning.

Here are some quite amusing examples of how moving/adding a comma (or other punctuation marks) can change the meaning.