Subj : Grammar in the Bar
To   : Gleb Hlebov
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Jul 12 2024 20:30:38

Hi, Gleb!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

[WRT the "Oxford" or "Harvard" comma]:
 AH>> It's a matter of style, not an absolute requirement, and
 AH>> some people recommend using it only when it's needed to
 AH>> avoid confusion:
 AH>> Through the window I saw John, a basketball player and a
 AH>> friend of mine.
 AK>> Are there three of them? ;-)
GH>  Now that I'm reading it I indeed see 3 different persons.

          Exactly my point... I can't be sure because I don't know the author.

          If I were making introductions I might say "I'd like you to meet John, a basketball player (or a chemistry student or whatever else might interest you) and a neighbour of ours."  This way you have some idea what the two of you might have in common.  But if others use punctuation a bit too sparingly I have little evidence as to whether this person is simply offering further detail about John.


 AK> If we have a good list (of names, for instance) we would have:
 AK> Through the window I saw John, Peter and Paul, who staggered out
 AK> from the pub.

GH> Does "who" indicate all of them, or just Paul?

          Beats me.  I'd suggest asking Alexander, as you did... [chuckle].


GH> ... End of message, Alexander. Confused? Me too! :-)

          Uh-huh.  So why not bother with an added comma which might help?  :-))




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 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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