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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010A couple of commas.
What are these commas for: Bishop of Leicester Tim Stevens, and President of the Methodist Conference Reverend David Gamble, discuss the outcomes of the General Synod whether the Anglican leadership has done enough to address its divisions. ? Both seem redundant to me.  Signature... A lamprophyre containing small phenocrysts of olivine and augite, and usually also biotite or an amphibole, in a glassy groundmass containing analcime. On 13 Feb 2010, Frederick Williams wrote > What are these commas for: > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > ? Both seem redundant to me. I agree. It also needs editing at "Synod whether" -- something like "discuss the outcomes of the General Synod, and whether the Anglican leadership..." SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > > What are these commas for: > > Bishop of Leicester Tim Stevens, and President of the Methodist > > Conference Reverend David Gamble, discuss the outcomes of the > > General Synod whether the Anglican leadership has done enough to > > address its divisions. > > ? Both seem redundant to me. > I agree. It also needs editing at "Synod whether" -- something like > "discuss the outcomes of the General Synod, and whether the Anglican > leadership..." Concur on both points. The predicate of the sentence is broken. SignatureBob http://www.kanyak.com >>> What are these commas for: >>> Bishop of Leicester Tim Stevens, and President of the Methodist [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Concur on both points. The predicate of the sentence is broken. Yes. This is like the sort of sentences Masa asks about, though it this case it does seem likely that it was the work of a nattive speaker. Signatureathel On Feb 13, 9:29 am, Frederick Williams <frederick.willia...@tesco.net> wrote: > What are these commas for: > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > ? Both seem redundant to me. Probably because both are incorrect. GFH >On Feb 13, 9:29 am, Frederick Williams <frederick.willia...@tesco.net> >wrote: [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >Probably because both are incorrect. They might be OK if two more commas were inserted to make the personal names parenthetical: Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, and President of the Methodist Conference, Reverend David Gamble, discuss the outcomes of the General Synod whether the Anglican leadership has done enough to address its divisions. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.english.usage) On 13 Feb 2010, Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote >> On Feb 13, 9:29 am, Frederick Williams >> <frederick.willia...@tesco.net> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > outcomes of the General Synod whether the Anglican leadership > has done enough to address its divisions. Did you not have an urge to do something with the bit that reads "...discuss the outcomes of the General Synod whether the Anglican leadership has done enough...", or am I the only one who doesn't grasp the structure of that sentence? SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed >On 13 Feb 2010, Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >leadership has done enough...", or am I the only one who doesn't >grasp the structure of that sentence? The OP asked about commas. I limited my comments to that matter. The sentence might make sense as: discuss the outcomes of the General Synod, particularly whether the Anglican leadership has done enough to address its divisions. assuming that is the intended meaning. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.english.usage) On 13 Feb 2010, Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote >> On 13 Feb 2010, Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > The OP asked about commas. I limited my comments to that matter. Fair 'nuff; I admire your restraint. (I couldn't limit it to that...) > The sentence might make sense as: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > assuming that is the intended meaning. SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > On 13 Feb 2010, Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > leadership has done enough...", or am I the only one who doesn't > grasp the structure of that sentence? I confess I was only troubled by the commas initially, but the whole thing is a mess. It came from the Today programme web site. Many thanks for all replies. Signature... A lamprophyre containing small phenocrysts of olivine and augite, and usually also biotite or an amphibole, in a glassy groundmass containing analcime. >>On Feb 13, 9:29 am, Frederick Williams <frederick.willia...@tesco.net> >>wrote: [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > General Synod whether the Anglican leadership has done enough to > address its divisions. I would say that that sentence needs more than commas. Personally, to make it instantly readable, I would use brackets. I would also add a couple of "the"s and an "and". I would have put: "The Bishop of Leicester (Tim Stevens) and the President of the Methodist Conference (Reverend David Gamble) discuss the outcomes of the General Synod, and whether the Anglican leadership has done enough to address its divisions." SignatureIan > What are these commas for: > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > ? Both seem redundant to me. I suppose the use of commas here implies where to add a pause when reading it. Doing a little research, according to http://everything.explained.at/Comma_(punctuation)/ the ORIGIN of the comma was to indicate where a breath could be taken when reading out-loud. I know that isn't how a commas are used gramatically today, but its the only reason I can see for including commas in the above. In any event, I would tend to agree with you that both commas are redundant. SignatureBrian Cryer www.cryer.co.uk/brian |
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