ATEG Archives

January 2008

ATEG@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:54:26 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (86 lines)
Edmond,
   I have a British publisher (Equinox) for my book, Meaning-Centered
Grammar. Believe it or not, the copy editor took all those commas out
(hundreds, maybe thousands over the course of the whole book), and did
this despite the fact that I advocate their use in my chapter on
grammar and writing. I was told at the time that he was following
British practice. When I objected, I won the argument, and they were
dutifully put back in. Perhaps I was misled?
   It may be the systems that we get used to come to seem the most
functional, perhaps because we find ways to defy expectations
purposefully. If the final series comma is expected, then we can make a
point by leaving it out, as in "peanut butter and jelly" or "down and
out", which are often one thing rather than two.
   Is your book as interesting as its title?

Craig





>> Craig,
>
> Where did you get the idea that in Britain we don't put commas before
> conjunctions in compound sentences?  We adopt the FANBOYS rule all right
> (unless your speaker was gabbling at high speed -- or was Dickens' Mrs.
> Lirriper or Joyce's Molly Bloom!).  As you say, we do largely omit the
> comma
> before the conjunction in a list of nouns or verbs, etc., though that is
> not
> absolute -- for there are occasions where the comma emphasizes
> distinctness
> for some reason:  for example, I kept this so-called 'Oxford' comma in the
> title of my recent book 'Narrative, Perception, Language, and Faith'
> because
> the appearance in the argument of the topic of faith is intended to be
> something of a surprise.
>
> Edmond
>
>
> Dr. Edmond Wright
> 3 Boathouse Court
> Trafalgar Road
> Cambridge
> CB4 1DU
> England
>
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Website: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/elw33/
> Phone [00 44] (0)1223 350256
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Just to complicate the talk (after all these votes for simplicity),
>> British practice differs from American on this one. They don't ask for
>> commas here (before the conjunction linking compound sentences) or
>> before the final element in a series (with "and" or "or".) >
>>     What you would hope for, I think, is consistency, not just a
>> sporadic
>> sprinkling. If the comma is included or left out DELIBERATELY and
>> consistently, then I don't think we should command otherwise.
>>
>> Craig
>>
>>
>>
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

ATOM RSS1 RSS2