“Needed” is indeterminate between “absolutely necessary” and “useful.” The additional commas aren’t absolutely necessary, but they are useful — they’re up-front cues for the kind of intonation contour most people would give the sentence once they’d thought about it, and they rule out a potential ambiguity (in principle, there could be lectures in the assigned reading and in the lab work as well, and the commas act as scope-limiters).

I may be overgeneralizing from my own instincts here, but I think fewer editors would want the commas taken out of your colleagues’ version than would want them added to yours.

— Bill Spruiell



From: Jason Jones <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Friday, January 16, 2015 at 3:19 PM
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: How to Punctuate

Here is a practice sentence from Martha Kolln's Rhetorical Grammar:

"The lectures in our astronomy class as well as the assigned reading and the lab work make it clear that I am in the wrong class I have decided to drop the course."

I believe that only a colon or semicolon is needed between class and I. My colleagues in the English department, however, have all punctuated the sentence this way:

"The lectures in our astronomy class, as well as the assigned reading and the lab work, make it clear that I am in the wrong class; I have decided to drop the course."

Any help would be appreciated!
--
Regards,

[http://oi55.tinypic.com/2ppn3vq.jpg]

William Jason Jones
English Teacher (English III & Comp I/II)
Writing Center Director
Independence Jr./High School
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