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Dec 30, 2016 at 21:04 comment added Lambie Not every literary utterance can be proven. What is the matter with everyone, anyway?:) If anybody bothered to LISTEN to the text, it is like a storyteller's story. And in that sense, it's fine. And if you're really interested in crazy punctuation, try reading Tom Wolfe. Writers rule, as far as I'm concerned. The writer is speaking the text to the reader and the comma acts to set off a parenthetical remark. It is also spoken: it is better to SAY, points to storytelling.
Dec 30, 2016 at 20:35 history edited Sven Yargs CC BY-SA 3.0
Fixed a trypo in the headline and made some minor copyediting changes.
Dec 30, 2016 at 16:36 history edited Kevin CC BY-SA 3.0
Fixed grammar
Apr 18, 2014 at 7:45 answer added Third News timeline score: 0
Apr 16, 2014 at 18:26 vote accept meiamsome
Apr 16, 2014 at 18:19 answer added F.E. timeline score: 1
Apr 16, 2014 at 15:00 comment added meiamsome Thank you all for your comments. I was under the impression that this comma was used to join two clauses together but neither of them appear to be a main clause as neither part makes sense on its own. I am still unsure how I feel about this as a sentence – if anyone has any references for comma usage of this form I would be interested to read them! @RyeɃreḁd yes, this sentence caused me to have to think about what it meant for quite a while before I realised it was referencing the previous sentence.
Apr 15, 2014 at 17:35 comment added PatrickT The comma is a substitute for a quotation mark, that's all. (the point marks the end of the quote)
Apr 15, 2014 at 17:28 comment added RyeɃreḁd Who cares if it is grammatically incorrect? Did passage confuse you? When transforming a reader into an image grammatics go out the window.
Apr 15, 2014 at 17:26 answer added Sven Yargs timeline score: 6
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:59 comment added user24964 I frequently find the prose of acclaimed writers excruciating - including this example - but Harper Lee is taught in schools so what do I know? I would have written something like: "Another courthouse was built around - actually, in spite of - them."
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:53 comment added rhetorician I'm with Edwin Ashworth. I'da put "built in spite of them" in italics. The sentence as is, however, scans just fine. Evidently for you they did not. As I am wont to say, "There's more than one way to swing a dead cat." Heck, if I'da been the author, I'da worded things as follows: "Another courthouse was built around them (really, in spite of them)." Then again, I'm not Harper Lee!
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:50 review First posts
Apr 15, 2014 at 19:35
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:47 answer added ChrisW timeline score: 2
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:42 comment added Edwin Ashworth Though your 'It is/would be better to say "built in spite of them." ' (I'm not capitalising as the string in quotes isn't a true sentence, though some might say there's a 'rule' demanding a capital b here) would not be wrong. I'd prefer '(It would be better to say built in spite of them.)'.
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:39 history edited meiamsome CC BY-SA 3.0
Dat sentence correction
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:37 comment added Elliott Frisch Yes, it is a valid and correct sentence. Also, the word is "sentence" not "sentance".
Apr 15, 2014 at 16:34 history asked meiamsome CC BY-SA 3.0