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Mysterious comma

 
 
Reply Sun 18 Jul, 2004 06:56 pm
Do you think if the two sentences below are correct?

We laid out our music and snacks, and began to study. (incorrect)
I turned the corner, and ran smash into a patrol car. (incorrect)

An English teacher told me they are incorrect.

So what sentences will you rewrite to?

My rewriting:

We laid out our music and snacks, begining to study.
I turned the corner, running smash into a patrol car
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 592 • Replies: 5
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SCoates
 
  1  
Reply Sun 18 Jul, 2004 07:11 pm
Wow, they look right to me. (the first ones)
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oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sun 18 Jul, 2004 07:14 pm
Hehe, see:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_comma.html
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SCoates
 
  1  
Reply Sun 18 Jul, 2004 07:24 pm
Well, the commas could be simply removed. I don't think it needs to be restructured.
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Wed 21 Jul, 2004 04:41 am
Oristar, Coates is right. The only thing wrong is the commas.

We laid out our music and snacks and began to study. (Correct)
I turned the corner and ran smash into a patrol car. (Correct)

Why? The subject of a sentence should never be separated from the verb by a comma. First sentence: The subject is "We"; second sentence, the subject is "I." It doesn't matter how many verbs are connected to the subject. No comma.

Or
We laid out our music and snacks, and we began to study.
I turned the corner, and I ran smash into a patrol car.

In these sentences, each part of the sentence has it's own subject. It would be incorrect not to have a comma here.
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cavfancier
 
  1  
Reply Wed 21 Jul, 2004 04:56 am
All true. Never restructure when it is a simple grammatical error. That just complicates things.
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