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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
any guidelines to comma usage?
Hi,
Are there any guidelines that would give me some sense of what is considered correct in terms of what kind of phrase or clause can be positioned as an appositive or parenthetical element that has commas around it? I am especially puzzled when an appositive or element is resembling a clause.I don't think the one below is a clause.
Is this correct? How can I know? Should I read more?
That lone light, its golden rays reflecting on the snow, completely transformed ...
I would have had no problem if "its" is replaced by (with?) "with".
Are there any guidelines that would give me some sense of what is considered correct in terms of what kind of phrase or clause can be positioned as an appositive or parenthetical element that has commas around it? I am especially puzzled when an appositive or element is resembling a clause.I don't think the one below is a clause.
Is this correct? How can I know? Should I read more?
That lone light, its golden rays reflecting on the snow, completely transformed ...
I would have had no problem if "its" is replaced by (with?) "with".
Top answer
It is correct, but I never think of terms of appositive or parenthetical elements when positing commas in such sentences. The sentence seems to have a natural caesura , between 'light' and 'its', and the sentence therefore seems to me to demand the insertion of a comma there. I'm afraid I'll have to leave it to others, more conversant with the technicalities of English grammar, to explain why the first comma is needed in the sentence.
- It is correct, but I never think of terms of appositive or parenthetical elements when positing commas in such sentences.
- The sentence seems to have a natural caesura , between 'light' and 'its', and the sentence therefore seems to me to demand the insertion of a comma there.
- I'm afraid I'll have to leave it to others, more conversant with the technicalities of English grammar, to explain why the first comma is needed in the sentence.
- In any event, your English seems to be of such a high, quasi-native , standard, that I'm surprised that the insertion of the first comma in the sentence doesn't already come naturally to you.
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1 Answers
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It is correct, but I never think of terms of appositive or parenthetical elements when positing commas in such sentences. The sentence seems to have a natural caesura, between 'light' and 'its', and the sentence therefore seems to me to demand the insertion of a comma there. I'm afraid I'll have to leave it to others, more conversant with the technicalities of English gramma
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