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Goronsky Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Inverted Construction.....
If we flipped the sentence, would we be forced to do this with the combo of commas and semicolons?
Pamela, my daughter; Gary, my son; and Gertrude, my wife, will be at the picnic. (I have one daughter, one son, and [obviously] one wife.)
And a comma-- not a semicolon-- comes after "my wife". No???
Pamela, my daughter; Gary, my son; and Gertrude, my wife, will be at the picnic. (I have one daughter, one son, and [obviously] one wife.)
And a comma-- not a semicolon-- comes after "my wife". No???
Top answer
I tend to agree with you, but all this is a bit theoretical. In spoken English, such sentences sound simple and are easily understood with casual pauses. In writing, I'd just avoid the problem.
- I tend to agree with you, but all this is a bit theoretical.
- In spoken English, such sentences sound simple and are easily understood with casual pauses.
- In writing, I'd just avoid the problem.
- eg My son, my daughter and my wife will be at the picnic.
- Their names are Pamela, Gary and Gertrude.
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9 Answers
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I tend to agree with you, but all this is a bit theoretical. In spoken English, such sentences sound simple and are easily understood with casual pauses.
In writing, I'd just avoid the problem.
eg My son, my daughter and my wife will be at the picnic. Their names are Pamela, Gary and
In writing, I'd just avoid the problem.
eg My son, my daughter and my wife will be at the picnic. Their names are Pamela, Gary and
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How 'bout parens???
Pamela (my daughter), Gary (my son), and Gertrude (my wife) will be at the picnic. (I have one daughter, one son, and [obviously] one wife.)
Pamela (my daughter), Gary (my son), and Gertrude (my wife) will be at the picnic. (I have one daughter, one son, and [obviously] one wife.)
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Do the parens distract or clarify? Give it to me straight. Oh yeah, Bub.
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Yeah, but the sentence is not tight enough. Simple and direct is not tight enough? What is your definition of 'tight'?
How 'bout parens??? Some people would think that a good solution. Very broadly speaking, I find parentheses often suggest 'lazy writing'.
How 'bout parens??? Some people would think that a good solution. Very broadly speaking, I find parentheses often suggest 'lazy writing'.
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So,
Mike said, "Pamela, my daughter; Gary, my son; and Gertrude, my wife, will be at the picnic."
and
Mike said, "My daughter Pamela, my son Gary, and my wife Gertrude will be at the picnic."
are correct, then.
Mike said, "Pamela, my daughter; Gary, my son; and Gertrude, my wife, will be at the picnic."
and
Mike said, "My daughter Pamela, my son Gary, and my wife Gertrude will be at the picnic."
are correct, then.
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Pretend it were a direct quote. People may not write this way, but they certainly speak this way. All this said, do you concur with the punctuation in the following?
Mike said, "Pamela, my daughter; Gary, my son; and Gertrude, my wife, will be at the picnic."
and
Mike said, "My daughter
Mike said, "Pamela, my daughter; Gary, my son; and Gertrude, my wife, will be at the picnic."
and
Mike said, "My daughter
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#1 is not wrong, but looks poor.
#2 is not strictly correct, but would not seem like bad English to most native speakers.
You are not going to pin me down any more than that!
#2 is not strictly correct, but would not seem like bad English to most native speakers.
You are not going to pin me down any more than that!
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You're a tough cookie, Clive! I won't be selling you a car anytime soon. ??
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