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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Comma question
I am almost 100% sure that the following sentence is grammatically correct, but my mentor teacher is convinced that it is is not.
The army begins to march when the tide suddenly pulls away, leaving dry land where there was ocean before.
I have an independent clause followed by a dependent/subordinate clause. The subordinate clause comes after the independent clause, so no comma is necessary between them.
Then I have a comma and...what? This is the part I don't understand.
The army begins to march when the tide suddenly pulls away, leaving dry land where there was ocean before.
I have an independent clause followed by a dependent/subordinate clause. The subordinate clause comes after the independent clause, so no comma is necessary between them.
Then I have a comma and...what? This is the part I don't understand.
Top answer
com/definition/us/when : After which; and just then (implying suddenness) ‘he had just drifted off to sleep when the phone rang’ However, the punctuation of the sentence does not encourage this interpretation. Regardless of any technical rules, I think the sentence is easier to read like this: The army begins to march, when the tide suddenly pulls away, leaving dry land where there was ocean before.
- com/definition/us/when : After which; and just then (implying suddenness) ‘he had just drifted off to sleep when the phone rang’ However, the punctuation of the sentence does not encourage this interpretation.
- Regardless of any technical rules, I think the sentence is easier to read like this: The army begins to march, when the tide suddenly pulls away, leaving dry land where there was ocean before.
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2 Answers
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My feeling is that "when" is intended as sense (3) at https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/when :
After which; and just then (implying suddenness)
‘he had just drifted off to sleep when the phone rang’
However, the punctuation of the sentence does no
After which; and just then (implying suddenness)
‘he had just drifted off to sleep when the phone rang’
However, the punctuation of the sentence does no
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AnonymousThe army begins to march when the tide suddenly pulls away, leaving dry land where there was ocean before.My guess is that your teacher sees "army" as the implicit subject of "leaving dry land" when the comma is present, which is the wrong interpretation. I would leave out the comma to prevent that confusion.
CJ
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