Punctuation

Question

Which is correctly punctuated?
Did the novelist, Ernest Hemingway once live here?
Did the novelist, Ernest Hemingway, once live here?
Did the novelist, Ernest Hemingway once live here.
Did the novelist Ernest Hemingway once live here?

What needs to be done to the following sentence?
Just what would you do, Cheryl, if the situation were reversed?

The sentence is correctly punctuated
Remove the comma before Cheryl
Remove the comma after Cheryl
Replace the comma after Cheryl with a semicolon

*** was thinking it would be the first one due to the "direct address" in sentence.
There are so many grammar rules to remember [:^)]

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Correct:

Did the novelist, Ernest Hemingway, once live here?
Did the novelist Ernest Hemingway once live here?

Just what would you do, Cheryl, if the situation were reversed?
The sentence is correctly punctuated .

Pieanne · Answer

About Hemingway, I personally prefer MM's second.

Philip · Answer

PieanneAbout Hemingway, I personally prefer MM's second.

I agree. The appositive created by the commas in the first example is not needed. It would be useful in "Did you know that my father, Ernest Hemmingway, once lieved here?".

Pieanne · Answer

Or "Did you know that a writer, H. H., once lived here?"

Miriam · Answer

"Did the novelist, Ernest Hemingway, once live here?" is as correct, grammatically, as "Did the novelist Ernest Hemingway once live here?"

In the second question you make it clear that the novelist you are referring to is H. because the listener may not be aware of it, so you use no commas. It is a restrictive construction. You are probably mentioning H. for the first time in the conversation you are having with someone. This question will prevent your interlocutor from asking "what novelist?"

The first question also makes sense, in the appropriate context. Suppose you have been talking to a friend for hours and both have mentioned several writers and other artists (painters and musicians, for example). Let's suppose you mentioned Hemingway at the very beginning of the conversation and then you talked about other people. All of a sudden, the question about H. having lived 'here' ~~or not~~ crosses your mind. So, in order to go back to a topic that is now not so immediate, you ask about the novelist and, even if H. is the only novelist you've mentioned so far, you can still use both his occupation and his name, only to make the question clearer.

It makes sense to me. It would be like asking "Did the novelist ~~you remember, Ernest Hemingway, the one we talked about a while ago~~ once live here?"

Miriam

Editing to add something:

"Cheryl" is a vocative in the sentence posted, and vocatives are usually placed between commas when they appear in middle position in a sentence.

MrPedantic · Answer

1. Did the novelist, Ernest Hemingway, once live here?

This might also serve as a question addressed to EH, if the (other) novelist had already been mentioned, and the interviewer wanted to restate the identity of his interviewee; for the benefit of listeners, perhaps...

MrP

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