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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

punctuation in a sentence

How would you punctuate this sentence without changing any of the words or word order?
It is time to change, and, if we do not change, something stronger is going to do it for us.
  

Top answer

It is time to change, and if we do not change, something stronger is going to do it for us. Your way was wrong because you made "if we do not change" parenthetical, which means that the sentence could do without it. The meaning changes when you remove that clause.

— Enoon

  • It is time to change, and if we do not change, something stronger is going to do it for us.
  • Your way was wrong because you made "if we do not change" parenthetical, which means that the sentence could do without it.
  • The meaning changes when you remove that clause.
  • The something stronger will only act if we don't.
  • The second comma is there to mark the end of the introductory clause, a kind of inversion: "X will do something if Y does not" is the non-inverted form, and that sentence would go "It is time to change, and something stronger is going to do it for us if we do not change", needing no second comma.
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1 Answers
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It is time to change, and if we do not change, something stronger is going to do it for us.

Your way was wrong because you made "if we do not change" parenthetical, which means that the sentence could do without it. The meaning changes when you remove that clause. The something stronger will only act if we don't.

The second comma is there to mark the end of the introductory claus
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