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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage
No comma after a dash - right?
I thought I was happy to follow convention and omit a comma that would otherwise have immediately followed a dash - until I came across the following sentence:
Spirit's twin - Opportunity - which arrived on 24 January is exploring the other side of the planet at Meridiani Planum
This sentence is crying out for a comma after 'January' whose absence is possibly explained by the necessity of pairing it with another before 'which':
Spirit's twin - Opportunity -, which arrived on 24 January, is exploring...
Short of not sandwiching 'Opportunity' between dashes in the first place, I can't think of any satisfactory way of fixing this by the mere addition of a comma or commas.
Comments?
ObOT: Isn't it nice to see something outperform expectations?...g
Spirit's twin - Opportunity - which arrived on 24 January is exploring the other side of the planet at Meridiani Planum
This sentence is crying out for a comma after 'January' whose absence is possibly explained by the necessity of pairing it with another before 'which':
Spirit's twin - Opportunity -, which arrived on 24 January, is exploring...
Short of not sandwiching 'Opportunity' between dashes in the first place, I can't think of any satisfactory way of fixing this by the mere addition of a comma or commas.
Comments?
ObOT: Isn't it nice to see something outperform expectations?...g
Top answer
[nq:1]I thought I was happy to follow convention and omit a comma thatwould otherwise have immediately followed a dash - ... [/nq] For the life of me I can see no need for the dashes at all at all. "Spirit's Twin Opportunity, which arrived on 24 blah blah.
- [nq:1]I thought I was happy to follow convention and omit a comma thatwould otherwise have immediately followed a dash - ...
- [/nq] For the life of me I can see no need for the dashes at all at all.
- "Spirit's Twin Opportunity, which arrived on 24 blah blah.
- Will.
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3 Answers
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[nq:1]I thought I was happy to follow convention and omit a comma thatwould otherwise have immediately followed a dash - ... first place, I can't think of any satisfactory way of fixing this by themere addition of a comma or commas.[/nq]
For the life of me I can see no need for the dashes at all at all. "Spirit's Twin Opportunity, which arrived on 24 blah blah.
Will.
For the life of me I can see no need for the dashes at all at all. "Spirit's Twin Opportunity, which arrived on 24 blah blah.
Will.
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[nq:1]I thought I was happy to follow convention and omit a comma thatwould otherwise have immediately followed a dash - ... I can't think of any satisfactory way of fixing this by the mere addition of a comma or commas. Comments?[/nq]
You say "short of" not using the dashes as if the dashes were somehow a good thing to be preserved if possible. In my style they aren't. Let's try "Spirit's twi
You say "short of" not using the dashes as if the dashes were somehow a good thing to be preserved if possible. In my style they aren't. Let's try "Spirit's twi
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(snip)
[nq:1]You say "short of" not using the dashes as if the dashes were somehow a good thing to be preserved ... words are clearly proper names.) This seems to me a case where an odd number of commas causes no ambiguity.[/nq]
In this particular case the dashes are probably not a good thing - but they could be in another sentence. I was more interested in raising the issue of the juxtapo
[nq:1]You say "short of" not using the dashes as if the dashes were somehow a good thing to be preserved ... words are clearly proper names.) This seems to me a case where an odd number of commas causes no ambiguity.[/nq]
In this particular case the dashes are probably not a good thing - but they could be in another sentence. I was more interested in raising the issue of the juxtapo
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