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Sat 24 Oct, 2015 12:22 am
Is the following sentence acceptable?
Alice is survived by her children Bob and Charlie and her brother David.
This got edited to
Alice is survived by her children, Bob and Charlie; and her brother, David.
Looking at that makes me want to barf. I don't understand why the names aren't essential appositives. Some of Alice's other children or brothers could have preceded her in death, so the sentence wouldn't be clear without the specific names. Is this some kind of standard obituary style or something?
@hgjfkjh,
Obits are kind of a specialized form of writing. The second sentence is pretty lousy. It makes it look as if Alice's children are Emily and Frank, and that Bob and Charlie are some random other people who lived longer than she did (like you and me).
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