Consider that the writer or speaker is using "all" to mean "everything," and "but" to mean "except." Therefore, Donna is everything except thin. This phraseology often is used in in ironic sense to emphasize and show comparison to the word being used, in this case, "thin."--Marlene Clark, Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT

Yes. You're right. Donna is not thin. When you're in doubt, you can go through this usage like this: Donna's all (she's blond, she's smart, she's witty)...but she's not....and there you go.--Kusma

The meaning is synonymous, though the adjective "welcome" seems most common in examples like the one you submitted. The verb form "are welcomed" might be followed by "by a committee standing ready to review your submission." The matter of correctness doesn't seem relevant to me. Neither is incorrect.--Robert Rosser, University of Maryland, Europe

Both are grammatically correct, but I prefer the second example.

Your first example uses "welcomed" as a verb in the passive voice; your second example uses "welcome" as an adjective, modifying the subject (submissions). Passive voice is OK if you have a reason to use it: to place emphasis on what's being done rather than who or what is doing it, or when the subject is unknown. In this case, you want to communicate something about "submissions," the subject of the sentence, so there's no reason to go with passive voice.

In fact, you could tighten the sentence further by dropping "All" and replacing "prior to" with "by": "Submissions are welcome by the end of the year."--Aaron Minnick, Columbus, OH

When people speak, it's called dialogue.

Every speaker gets a new paragraph.

Generally, punctuation goes with the quote and inside the quote marks (see the question mark). And you don't have to get fancy with using words like exclaimed (a exclamation mark will tell us the speaker exclaimed). In a 2-person dialogue, after you identify the speakers, you don't have to say "he said" or "she said" every time they speak. The new paragraphs will identify the speaker.

Ideally, the dialogue will move the action or thought along. Hopefully, the above sample demonstrate these concepts.--Marlene Clark, Middlesex Community College, Middletown CT

"Good morning, Elizabeth," said the aged professor, in a voice ruined by years of lecturing in cavernous auditoriums.

"Good morning, sir," she replied.

"How can I help you today?"

Hesitating only slightly, Elizabeth responded, "I'm supposed to write dialogue, but I don't know what it is."

"We're having one now," said the professor. "Just write it down."

"Oh," she exclaimed, "Is it really that simple?"

"Well, nothing is really simple," was the retort, "but written dialogue is just a conversation with quotation marks around the words actually spoken." --Robert Rosser, University of Maryland, Europe

A dialogue is a conversational exchange between two or more people in a given situation. Dialogues can be used to resemble brief, real-life conversations. A simple, simple dialogue:

I hope this helps a little.--Roy Stewart, Literacy Volunteers, Buffalo, NY