WTC Tower One - by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

[NewYorkYankee]

dont make no cents whut yall tockin bout? punkchewayshun aint dun me no good÷

Thats not bad punctuation, its bad spelling, people can read and infer what something means without 1 comma, I know they should've put it there to begin with, but since they made a mistake its no big deal to go back and put it on. People know what it says anyways.

[BPC]

No comma is necessary or even, in my view, appropriate. Imagine how the complete sentence would read with the missing words that are clearly implicit (IN CAPS):

"THIS BUILDING IS INTENDED to honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom."

The modern convention, as opposed to the rule I was taught in elementary school (to which the letter writer appears to still subscribe) is NOT to use a comma after a year unless it is otherwise required in the context of the sentence. Here it plainly is not. There are two descriptive phrases modifying the unstated, but implicit, opening words to the sentence (the phrase beginning with the word "to" and the phrase beginning with the word "as") connected with the word "and". Only a pair of sentence clauses (each containing both a subject and a verb), not mere phrases, need be separated by a comma. For example:

"THIS BUILDING IS INTENDED to honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and IT IS FURTHER INTENDED as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom."

[James Kovata]

dont make no cents whut yall tockin bout? punkchewayshun aint dun me no good÷

Thats not bad punctuation, its bad spelling, people can read and infer what something means without 1 comma, I know they should've put it there to begin with, but since they made a mistake its no big deal to go back and put it on.

I do hope you realize that the preceding was a very large run-on sentence with other errors as well! (The fact that we're discussing grammar and punctucation should make many english teachers very happy!)

As for whether the comma belongs or does not belong, I would bet that the NY Times thinks a comma should be inserted. Otherwise, I doubt that the Times would have published the letter.

[ZippyTheChimp]

The comma is not necessary. You would use a comma if the two elements expressed contrast.

"THIS BUILDING IS INTENDED to honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, but not as a tribute to the terrorists."

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.

[NYguy]

Downtown Express...

Construction begins on the Freedom Tower

By Josh Rogers



The cornerstone to the Freedom Tower was lifted and lowered into the ground at tteh World Trade Center site.

Officials symbolically marked the start of Freedom Tower construction July 4 by laying a 20-ton cornerstone dedicated to the people who were killed Sept. 11, 2001.

“They attacked us to break our spirit instead they broke our hearts,” Gov. George Pataki said at the ceremony. Pataki was the one who named the tower conceived by Daniel Libeskind and designed by David Childs.

Pataki was joined by Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey and Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Pataki said the building would be “a new soaring tribute that will stand 1,776 feet high, marking the year of our nation’s birth.” But The New York Times reported the next day that it was unlikely the building would be exactly 1,776 feet.

Gerald McKelvey, a spokesperson for the building’s developer, Larry Silverstein, confirmed that the height is undecided.

“It may well have to be somewhat higher than that,” McKelvey told Downtown Express. “Nothing is ruled out or nothing is ruled in. It will be very close to that.”

The tower would be the largest building in the world. Libeskind, the W.T.C. site plan architect, has said on many occasions that even if the building were someday surpassed, the height would always have meaning because it would be tied to America’s history.

Before the revelations about the height, Silverstein said that it will help Downtown heal to see a tower rise from the site. “You’re going to see significant steel soaring in ‘05, ‘06, ‘07 and ’08,” he said after the Independence Day ceremony.

Previously, he has said he has enough money to build the $1.6 billion tower, but Roland Betts, a member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board, said Silverstein may need Liberty Bonds to build the Freedom Tower as well as the other four office towers.

Janno Lieber, Silverstein Properties’ executive vice president, told the City Council June 30 that his firm would need about $3.5 billion of the tax-free bonds to build all of the offices at the site. His testimony was first reported in last week’s Downtown Express.

Some relatives of the victims and others demonstrated near the site because they either thought construction was moving too fast without preserving the site’s history, or it was proceeding without taking into account the environmental effects, or because they thought the Twin Towers should be rebuilt.

But at the ceremony, attendees praised the beginning of the construction. Charles Wolf, whose wife was killed, said he came to the ceremony because it was important to move forward. “This is not going to be an empty pit for the rest of our lives,” he said.



Two World Financial Center offices rise above the World Trade Center slurry wall.

[NewYorkYankee]

dont make no cents whut yall tockin bout? punkchewayshun aint dun me no good÷

Thats not bad punctuation, its bad spelling, people can read and infer what something means without 1 comma, I know they should've put it there to begin with, but since they made a mistake its no big deal to go back and put it on.

I do hope you realize that the preceding was a very large run-on sentence with other errors as well! (The fact that we're discussing grammar and punctucation should make many english teachers very happy!)

As for whether the comma belongs or does not belong, I would bet that the NY Times thinks a comma should be inserted. Otherwise, I doubt that the Times would have published the letter.

LOL, yes, I dont really care about grammar when I type on the internet. (And it seems most others dont either!)

[Archit_K]

So, the 1776 Freedom Tower is not going to be the world's tallest skyscraper because of architect Adrain Smith of SOM?

[Pottebaum]

Another Seinfeld-like conversation!

[NYguy]

JULY 10, 2004

The site of the future Freedom Tower...Here you can see
what's left of the garage that will be dismantled and partially preserved.
This site should get very interesting in a few months time...

[Pottebaum]

Great pics, nyguy.

Any word on the vacancy rate of tower 7?

[NYguy]

Great pics, nyguy.
Any word on the vacancy rate of tower 7?

All of that information would be in the 7 WTC thread...

The Securities and Exchange Commission is in talks about renting 200,000 square feet, sources told the Daily News.

And a high-profile downtown law firm, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, is considering taking 450,000 square feet.

[NoyokA]

So, the 1776 Freedom Tower is not going to be the world's tallest skyscraper because of architect Adrain Smith of SOM?

Adrian Smith???

Are you thinking David Child's?

[JMGarcia]

I think he means because Adrian Smith is doing Burj Dubai.

[Johnnyboy]

this is somewhat not part of this forums topic but, im a very patriodic american and had always had pride towards my country. One of the things i am very proud of america is its wonderfull skyscrapers yet, i can't help wonder wile looking at the skyscraperpage.com diagrams reguarding American and Chinese present as well as future buildings if China or any other nation is actually surpassing American beauty in skyscraper desighns and creativity. Even surpassing the freedom tower desighn wich should have been a wonder. I would be very thankfull if i get some short and quick opinions reguarding what i had just posted.

[LuPeRcALiO]

Johnnyboy ask your parents to adjust the parental controls on your browser.. too much SSP is bad for your eyes.


p.s. let's just say that Governor Pataki will not be remembered for his aesthetic sensibility.