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Rated: 13+ · Message Forum · Writing · #980111
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May 2, 2007 at 4:26pm
#1502197
Re: Re: The Comma Cops
by A Non-Existent User
I love that sentence. If I had to stick with that sentence's wording, I would leave it alone if it was dedicated to three separate and distinct entities. If my parents were Ayn Rand and God, I would use a colon instead of the comma.

Here is one example sentence from my story that reviewers cannot agree upon with regards to comma usage:

"When you were born I knew there was a higher power."

I look at that sentence and it looks like a coin flip to me as to whether or not to use a comma. My first impulse was to punctuate it, but authors I admire, such as Mario Puzo, wouldn't use a comma there. They only use punctuation when absolutely necessary. (Or maybe it comes down to their editors.) I can think of several authors offhand who wouldn't use it there (Thomas Perry comes immediately to mind). But I also understand the argument as to why it shouldn't. In the end, I decided against it because I thought the sentence flowed better without it. But I guess the sentence contains two clauses, one dependent and one independent.

"When" should have perhaps been used as a subordinating conjunction in the following manner:

"I knew there was a higher power <i>when</i> you were born." Then I wouldn't have to worry about a comma at all.

I think I kind of solved my own dilemma on that one sentence with this post.

Thanks,

Ed
MESSAGE THREAD
The Comma Cops · 05-02-07 2:33pm
by A Non-Existent User
Re: The Comma Cops · 05-02-07 3:55pm
by Lori Basiewicz Author IconMail Icon
*Star* Re: Re: The Comma Cops · 05-02-07 4:26pm
by A Non-Existent User
Re: Re: Re: The Comma Cops · 05-02-07 8:06pm
by Rebecca Laffar-Smith Author IconMail Icon
Re: Re: Re: Re: The Comma Cops · 06-10-07 10:12am
by the1stephzen Author IconMail Icon

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