Which hunting

            The problems many writers have with the words that and which make copy editors inveterate which-hunters. Remember that a nonrestrictive clause is not essential for the reader to understand the full meaning of the word or words that it modifies. It simply adds more information, describing but not limiting (“restricting”) what it modifies. On the other hand, a restrictive clause contains information that is essential for the reader to understand the full meaning of the word or words that it modifies. It limits (“restricts”) what it modifies. To keep things simple, use the relative pronoun that to begin restrictive clauses and which to begin a nonrestrictive clause. Examples:

Restrictive:

He showed me the book that arrived in the mail today. [The meaning is restricted to just one book—the one that arrived in the mail today.]

Nonrestrictive:

He showed me the new Stephen King novel, which is the one I told you about yesterday. [The clause just adds more information to the sentence.]

            Also note that you can often delete the word that in many constructions: The books [that] I ordered arrived today.

Paul Thayer

Your Book Editor

Using commas to avoid misreading

Sometimes you need to insert a comma for no other reason than to avoid the misreading of a sentence.

Consider these two sentences:

In the place where the willow grew the river was broad and slow.

Once he had been allowed to attend the exorcism of a boy in rural Nigeria.

These sentences could be easily misread. In the first sentence the reader may think you’re saying that the willow tree grew the river (that would be something to see) unless you place a comma after the word grew.

In the second sentence, if you don’t put a comma after the first word, Once, the reader will take that word as a conjunction that means “at the moment when” or “as soon as.” If you use this word as an adverb, it means “at some indefinite time in the past.” To communicate that meaning you have to place a comma after Once.

More examples:

As we would expect Freud’s self-evaluation would hardly be agreed upon by everyone.

To clarify the meaning of this sentence, you should place a comma after the word expect.

When I woke up Annette was looking down at me.

The first-person narrator did not wake up Annette. He woke up and saw her looking down at him. To make that clear, put a comma after the word up.

When we had finished eating Robert and I left the room.

Unless you’re writing about cannibals (“Pass the salt, please”), nobody ate Robert. Lucky for him. Put a comma after the word eating.

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One of the cannibals asks the other one, "Does this taste funny to you?"

Paul Thayer

Your Book Editor

Hooking up: The comma splice

 Recognizing comma-splice errors in your writing is important. What’s a comma splice? This is linking two sentences (two independent clauses) with a comma.

Examples:

The current was swift, he could not swim to shore.

I like you, you’re nice.

Martha was a lonely woman, she didn’t have any friends.

What we have in these constructions is two separate independent (main) clauses—clauses that contain a subject and a verb—that express two separate thoughts. Example:

Martha was a lonely woman. She didn’t have any friends.

When you have two independent clauses in a sentence, you must write them in one of the following ways:

>   Separate them with a period so they’re treated as two complete sentences.

>   Connect them with a semicolon if the two thoughts are closely related (I like you; you’re nice.)

> Connect them with a conjunction, which should have a comma in front of it (The current was swift, and he could not swim to shore.)

This is such a basic rule of writing that I cringe when I see a comma-spliced sentence. Where was this writer, I wonder, when his 7^th-grade English teacher taught this lesson? In the john, perhaps, sneaking a smoke. To be honest, this error also makes me prejudiced against the writer because it raises a big red flag. If the writer doesn’t know about such a simple rule, how many other grammatical sins am I going to find in this manuscript? This does not make an editor look forward to reading the rest of the book. We would rather clean the toilet.

Paul Thayer

Your Book Editor

Cats are smarter than people

A Clause for Celebration

Even many good writers must have been absent from school the day their English teacher discussed the independent clause, the basic sentence unit.

What’s an independent clause? This is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb, expresses a complete thought, and can stand alone. Example: “Barbara shouted.” If a sentence has two independent clauses that are connected by a conjunction—often and or but—it is called a compound sentence. Example: “Barbara shouted, and Steve turned around.”

Notice the comma after the word shouted and before the conjunction and. This is the way you should punctuate a compound sentence. If you can’t identify the subjects and verbs in this sentence, then you probably should consider giving up writing and becoming a fish farmer.

Pop quiz: Where do you place a comma in this sentence:

She wanted to run but her legs wouldn’t move.

Got it? Lord, I hope so.

Here’s another point to note when dealing with compound sentences that is an exception to the comma rule: When the subject is the same for both independent clauses and is expressed only once, you should use a comma if the connective is but. If the connective is and, you should omit the comma if the relationship between the two statements is close or immediate. Examples:

He has had several years’ experience and is thoroughly competent.

I have heard his arguments, but am still unconvinced.

Also keep in mind that you should avoid writing loose sentences that string together several independent clauses. Such constructions should be broken into separate sentences, or you can separate the independent clauses with a semicolon.

Paul Thayer

your-book-editor.com

Commas — they save lives

You don't think commas are important? Well . . .

Paul Thayer

your-book-editor.com