New answers tagged style-manuals
1
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Trying to understand how to connect phrases/clauses with commas
The first preposition phrase, from the north, is actually not a modifier; it's a complement. We know that because that phrase is licensed by come.
The rest are indeed optional supplements; and yes, ...
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2
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Nested quotations & internal commas: an edge case
What did Bob say? "Hello." — probably with a period after it. One convention (I believe there are others) is to turn periods into commas when you quote text and the period doesn't fall at ...
- 87.7k
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Nested quotations & internal commas: an edge case
There is absolutely no need for the commas before the reported speech. Either of them.
The best version of this sentence is:
Alice says "Bob said 'Hello,'" and she smiles at the memory.
...
- 25.2k
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Is it ok to have a semicolon after a colon or em dash? (or other variations)
Robert Louis Stevenson writes, in The Adventure of the Hansom Cab [The Literature Network]:
The drawing-room began to look empty: the baccarat was discontinued for lack of a banker; more than one ...
- 80.6k
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