Well, well, well ...and mine, too!

[Belka_Teacher]

Mary May, what I am writing in my post, is - comma isn't necessary

I will check the rest later, as I am not at home now. Thank you for helping with the writing challenge.

[Kind_Punk]

Belka_Teacher,

It happened to be the last one I read there late on Feb 26 or even in the small hours of Feb 27, which appeared to be the very last hours of the forum's existance.

- Doesn't it look like 'which' means 'I read'? Like, the whole part?

I found myself there after 2 months of the year had passed with me having done practically nothing

- Ok, then comma is needed before 'after'. Or 'I found myself there after 2 months of the year passed (i.e 'after 2 passed month') with me having done...' Or maybe even it needs the second comma after 'had passed', for it is not clear to what 'with me' is connected ) Or am I terribly wrong? )

[Belka_Teacher]

Kind_Punk, yes, you are terribly wrong in both cases)) I am out of town and will explain you why you are terribly wrong when I get back, OK?

[Kind_Punk]

will explain you why you are terribly wrong when I get back, OK?

It will be very kind of you, but please do not explain me to me )

[Yety]

the one where the further disaster was triggered.

A bit awkward to me )

Hate to admit that sounded fine to Yety's ears))
there were only three further performances of the play
until further notice

after 2 months of the year had passed

Yep, PastPS is optional, but does just fine.

one almost inevitably tendS to cherish every December

And the next day happened what happened.

And the next day happened what happend - sounds quite Russian,

Hate to admit that sounded just fine too.)) I'm pretty sure I've heard it multiple times in colloquial speech.

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There're several pages of Google hits for "then happened what happened" of different quality, though.
https://www.google.ru/search?q=%22then+ ... 20&bih=900
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=128037
So in the second I started with the break, and then happened what happened with those two games. Then I was there again.
http://www.draughtshistory.nl/chapter10.htm
Then happened what happened any place and any time: the higher culture, in this case the Greek one, won the lower culture; the upper class of the Roman society soon turned Greek.
http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13988/1/SCochrane_thesis.pdf

Then happened what happened, which I shall never tell.
So think the best of it and do not ask!

https://www.quora.com/If-you-could-choo ... be-and-why
and then happened what happened.

I even cannot find the subject here.

A case of inversion + what happened as a subject clause, I think.
The uninverted version - What happened, happened:
http://context.reverso.net/%D0%BF%D0%B5 ... C+happened
Inversion as in here:
https://books.google.ru/books?id=mrQrDw ... kQ6AEINjAD
Then he touched the triangle. Then happened something which made his heart started thumping with great speed, increasing by the moment.

one of the the latest posts in the thread said "If you want to make gods laugh, tell them about your plans".

I do know what it is believed to help you succeed in/at? your planSning - all these ABC tips such as

What I am writing in this post, is the/a? mere statement of intent

At that/this? very moment, at least - never say never!

no matter how vaguely it might sound, is just to stop my English from slipping down to the "one-step-above-my-students" level,

as I strongly believe that the one who dares to teach others needs a little bit wider perspective(?).

but since / as far as they are improving

I'm quite/rather bad in at punctuation, articles, prepositions, register.

To ease the burden for good Samaritans (if there are any),

This post is an exception to the rule as it is just the/a? declaration of intent - remember?

Thank you for reading this.

https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... succeed-at

[Belka_Teacher]

Yety, thank you, now this phrase has grown on me)))

[Belka_Teacher]

Kind_Punk, I don't quite get what you mean.

[Kind_Punk]

Belka_Teacher, explain (something) (to somebody)

[Belka_Teacher]

Kind_Punk, oh, I see, sorry, it is rather late, I should just go to bed before I embarras myself any further.

[Kind_Punk]

Belka_Teacher, and I would rather not point out your embarrassment ))

[Mary May]

Thank all of you so much for your huge help, it matters a lot to me.
It arrived exactly at the time when I'd almost lost hope for any response at all and was ready to come up with self-correction - that was exactly the reason why I logged-in today, and - what a great surprise! And an invaluable help, indeed - as I myself was able to detect only the minor up to nothing part of what you, guys, pointed out.
Now, I need some time to look through all my mistakes and try to think of what I can do about them.
If you find more - you're more than welcome!.
Again - it may sound as a sort of obsession - what about Runglish, collocations and the choice of words in general?
And, again - THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[Belka_Teacher]

Mary May, just your thread had been impossible to spot before those challenges were moved to another section.

[Belka_Teacher]

Mary May, your collocations look fine to me in general. Your writing is quite easy and comfortable to read. But I do not consider myself an expert in those things. If you have some questions about punctuation, feel free to drop a line to me.

[Yety]

If you find more - you're more than welcome!

Well, if you say so. Switching to pernicketyYety mode...)))

neither is it meaningful, nor comes

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Don't know if it is necessary, but I would sustain the inverted word order in the second clause as well:
neither is it meaningful, nor does it come

in a due time

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/in+due+time

as I wished I would write more often

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Again, there's a problem here for Yety.)
If you see it as subjunctive, it sounds somewhat 'illogical' (it's in your power to do so, after all).
https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... e-up-early
Yet, if you see it as indicative (is it possible?), would is just a result of the sequence of tenses:
I wished (=hoped) I would write more often
The case was supposed to be one of the Grammar Riddles, btw.))

it's just a bla-bla-blaing (= an idle talk)

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My greatest concerns are mainly in(?) the choice of proper words, ...
?My greatest concerns lie mainly in the areas of the choice of proper words, ...?
Don't know if it's a necessary correction, either.

in a descending order

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https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/ ... -something
Couldn't figure out exactly what difference the article does in this context.
https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... ding-order

they were waiting for someone to give feedback on what they wrote and almost nobody appeared
they were waiting for someone to give feedback on what they'd written and almost nobody appeared
Strictly speaking)

Too many 'spoilers', Yety knows. Sorry.(

[Belka_Teacher]

Mary May, I will write a short explanation about the punctuation in two sentences. If something isn't quite clear, let's discuss it, as I will probably learn a lot from our discussion, too)))

'What I am writing in this post, is the mere statement of intent.' This sentence is a classical example of a cleft sentence (when one sentence is divided into two parts, each with its own verb, with adding emphasis to part of the sentence). We never use commas between two parts of a cleft sentence. Other examples of such sentences are:

What I would like to know is where the money went.
All I'd like to say is that the company appreciates your work.
It was Karin who left her bag on the train.

Another sentence that I would like to discuss is

'It happened to be the last one I read there late on Feb 26 or even in the small hours of Feb 27, which appeared to be the very last hours of the forum's existance.' Here you actually do need this comma, as it is a non-defining relative clause - a clause that adds additional information and details to the entire main clause or to just a part of it, but it can also be removed.

Other examples of non-defining relative clauses are

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1970, wrote several novels. (the non-defining relative clause just adds some additional information, but we can also leave it out without any drastic changes to the meaning of the sentence)
Solzhenitsyn wrote his books while he was still a prisoner, which was very brave.

However, if we use defining relative clauses, we do not need to use a comma.

Angela Green is the woman who lives next door. (We cannot just remove who lives next door; the sentence will sound stupid).

[Belka_Teacher]

Kind_Punk, now let's take this sentence

I found myself there after 2 months of the year had passed with me having done practically nothing.

This sentence is a complex sentence with the independent clause coming first and the dependent second. No comma is needed in such types of sentences. Another example is

I checked to see if my groceries were in the trunk before I left the parking lot.

However, if we revert the order of those clauses, we will need to use a comma.

Before I left the parking lot, I checked to make sure my groceries were in the trunk.

You can read more about punctiation of complex sentences here.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma-in ... sentences/

[Belka_Teacher]

One more sentence for analyses is this one

I'm quite bad at punctuation, articles, prepositions, register.

It would be more natural to put "and" before the last item of a list.

I'm quite bad at punctuation, articles, prepositions, AND register.

[Kind_Punk]

OK, the next part )

I do know what it is believed to help you succeed in your planning - all these ABC tips

'what is believed' or 'that it is believed'

What I am writing in this post, is the mere statement of intent

Comma not needed

the mere statement of

Not sure but I'd like 'a' here

At that very moment at least

this

My aim is, no matter how vaguely it might sound, just to stop my English from slipping down

Not sure if it should be 'stopping'

[Mary May]

Yety,
if I could put a dozen of "likes"/""thanks" here I certainly would.

[Belka_Teacher]

However, what I like about your writing is that I haven't noticed any comma splices.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma-splice/

Also I like your uses of em dashes, but just beware of the register - they tend to make your writing more casual, so, if you choose to use a lot of em dashes, also try to use more contractions and other ways to make your writing a little bit more informal.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/dash/

I hope that was useful. Let's keep learning together! Just being one step ahead of our students is, of course, not enough.

'My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.' (Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland)

[Kind_Punk]

Belka_Teacher,

Thank you, I've got it )

[Belka_Teacher]

Some more links to support my post 40
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/gramma ... ot-married
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ru/%D0 ... n-defining

[Mary May]

Yety, Belka_Teacher, Kind_Punk,
I think I have to sleep on it a bit, but - again - you're more than welcome to go on! Thank you.

[Belka_Teacher]

To continue with punctuation, let's talk about quotations. I'm not quite sure if you prefer BrE or AmE, but beware of the differences in the punctuation.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/punct ... tion-marks

[Belka_Teacher]

One sentence that I am not sure about is this

There was a thread on efl.ru started by Nina and called something like "My <language? linguistic?> plans for 2018: who else wants to share?".

I am not sure about the necessity of the period after the quotation marks; however, I cannot find any rules to support my gut feeling.