Correct usage

Question

Seeing the world for what it is, is never a bad thing. (How should this be punctuated (is/is) ?

.Is this a comma splice?

I think todays media and the news is full of angst and guilt, a guilt we all seem to have to carry for no other reason other than it exists and we're apparently responsible for it.

Noun phrase would be like this right?

I think todays media and the news is full of angst and guilt, a guilt we all seem to have carry for no other reason, and we're apparently responsible for it.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

First sentence:

No comma, "...is is..." is okay.

Second sentence:

The sentence is okay as is. This is an appositive construction: "I think today's...and guilt" is in apposition with "a guilt we all...responsible for it."

GPY · Answer

panda blue 483Seeing the world for what it is, is never a bad thing. (How should this be punctuated (is/is) ?

It should be "Seeing the world for what it is is never a bad thing". Putting a comma between a verb and its subject is never correct (potentially barring some exceptional circumstance that I can't bring to mind right now, and excluding parenthetical elements enclosed by paired commas).

panda blue 483Is this a comma splice? I think today's media and the news is full of angst and guilt, a guilt we all seem to have to carry for no other reason other than it exists and we're apparently responsible for it.

Some people may prefer a dash to a comma, but for me this is OK (with the unrelated correction). "a guilt ... for it" is a long noun phrase that further explains the first "guilt".

panda blue 483I think todays media and the news is full of angst and guilt, a guilt we all seem to have carry for no other reason, and we're apparently responsible for it.

This is not grammatical.

Correct usage

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