The Logical Blog

by Jennie Ruby

Are you guilty of overusing commas? If so, you're not alone. Consider the following sentence:

Fill in all the fields in the form, and, then, click the submit button to send it in.

The Gregg Reference Manual suggests that although you may feel like pausing before and after the word and, three commas are too many. It suggests omitting the one afterand. Thus we keep the comma before and, which is separating two independent clauses. We also keep the comma after then, which separates an introductory transition word from the rest of the sentence.

Too many grammar words in one sentence? Barge ahead and try punctuating these sentences. They need comma help.

1. You can share folders with everyone in your office without setting file and folder permissions and what is more you can use the shared folders with external clients through a sealed link.
2. Right-click the folder and when you see the shortcut menu choose Create Shortcut.
3. You can ease desktop access to a networked drive by using the Map Network Drive feature and thus enable end users to type and click through much shorter path names.
4. In the dialog box on the General tab click Settings and then access the Advanced group and click Delete Cookies.

Answers to Last week's Challenge

This week's answers are brought to you by Mark Rudden:

1. Diners may choose from steak, lobster, chicken, and tofu. [removed the colon after from]
2. The bundle includes a wireless router, cabling, backup power box, and installation. [removed the colon after includes]
3. Our bird-watching trip was a success; we saw woodpeckers, finches, vereos, and juncos. [removed the colon after saw]
4. The function displays the following: search results, formatting inconsistencies, and suggested corrections.[correct as is]
5. In this lesson, you will learn to apply a cover page, add a contents page, and set up custom page numbering. [I would put a coma after lesson, but I'm not sure if it's technically required. It just sounds better to my reading ear.]
6. New songs include Coins for the Canopy, Ice Room Graffiti, and The Figurine. [removed the colon after include]

Alternative answers are brought to you by David Zimmerle. Other respondents with all answers correct were Carol Ansorge, Howard Gold, Jay Herman, Carole Stull, and Vera Sytch.

1. Diners may choose from the following entrees: steak, lobster, chicken, and tofu.
2. The bundle includes everything you need for setup: a wireless router, cabling, backup power box, and installation.
3. Our bird-watching trip was a success; we saw such a variety: woodpeckers, finches, vereos, and juncos.
4. The function displays the following commands: search results, formatting inconsistencies, and suggested corrections.
5. In this lesson you will learn to apply a cover page, add a contents page, and set up custom page numbering.
6. New songs include the following tracks: "Coins for the Canopy", "Ice Room Graffiti", and "The Figurine".

Carol Ansorge also asked whether it is really okay to introduce a bullet list with no colon. The answer is yes. I edited scientific journals for years, and that style was the preferred style. But most people do prefer to see the colon. Therefore, the usual practice is to make sure to complete the introductory sentence and use a colon.

by Jennie Ruby 

A very common error I see at all levels of writing is failure to use a complete sentence before a colon. I see this most often in text after words such as including, are and such as, in sentences like this:

*Our new monitoring centers have many advanced features, including: multiple server backups, high-speed fiber-optic cabling, and 48-hour backup power systems. [no punctuation needed after including]

The other main place I see this error is in the introduction to a bulleted or numbered list. The introduction does look better with the colon, but it has to be a complete sentence. Here is an example of this error:

*Our main objectives are: [no colon needed, or more words needed to complete the introductory sentence]

• Meet or beat the deadline
• Come in under budget
• Exceed the stated quality standards

Here are two ways to correct this error:

Our main objectives are as follows:

We seek to meet these objectives:

 Challenge: Correct these sentences. Be careful! Some are correct as they are.

1. Diners may choose from: steak, lobster, chicken, and tofu.
2. The bundle includes: a wireless router, cabling, backup power box, and installation.
3. Our bird-watching trip was a success; we saw: woodpeckers, finches, vereos, and juncos.
4. The function displays the following: search results, formatting inconsistencies, and suggested corrections.
5. In this lesson you will learn to apply a cover page, add a contents page, and set up custom page numbering.
6. New songs include: Coins for the Canopy, Ice Room Graffiti, and The Figurine.

When ready, send your answers right to me.

***

Answers to my last challenge are brought to you by Vera Sytch, who also voiced this opinion for many of us: "Glad I'm not in the field of economics!" I am happy to report that everyone who submitted answers won this week: all punctuation of these compound sentences was done correctly. Many of you injected transition words or changed transition words in an attempt to make this writing clearer. All of them were an improvement.

1. Perfect markets are not at all proxies for real markets; they suppose an institutional form opposed to the idea of a market.
2. Preference orderings and endowments are a good abstraction of consumers' production sets; hence, and they give an idea of the level of technology use within a firm.
3. There is no relation, let alone identity, between individual and collective behavior; this has been philosophically acknowledged since ancient times.
4. The methodological implications of differing definitions of economic processes are quite drastic; however, long-term investment cannot be determined in an acceptably meaningful manner because the system is subjected neither to the rules of competition nor to the optimizing behavior of cooperative arrangements.
5. The moment a macro-system is broken up into subsectors it no longer holds together; nor can itcannot be built from the bottom up either.

by Jennie Ruby 

Putting two sentences together to form one larger sentence is a common way to express more complex thoughts. But I see even academic writers with MAs or PhDs get the punctuation wrong. Here's how it works. You put two complete sentences together.

Nothing is more central to neoclassical microeconomics than the concept of a market.

+

Textbooks leave its meaning up in the air.

=

The asterisk indicates where the two original sentences meet. The three most common ways to correctly negotiate this meeting spot are as follows:

Add a comma plus a conjunction (but, or, yet, for, and, nor, so)

Add a semicolon alone

Add a semicolon plus a transition word (however, therefore, hence, etc.) followed by a comma

Although there are some circumstances where a colon or a dash can work well, these three are the most frequent correct methods. Failure to use sufficient punctuation between two sentences combined into one creates an error called a "run-on sentence."

Challenge: Correct these run-on sentences from the technical field of economics using the three methods described above. Please send your answers to me when ready.

1. Perfect markets are not at all proxies for real markets, they suppose an institutional form opposed to the idea of a market.
2. Preference orderings and endowments are a good abstraction of consumers production sets and they give an idea of the level of technology use within a firm.
3. There is no relation, let alone identity, between individual and collective behavior, this has been philosophically acknowledged since ancient times.
4. The methodological implications of differing definitions of economic processes are quite drastic, long-term investment cannot be determined in an acceptably meaningful manner because the system is subjected neither to the rules of competition nor to the optimizing behavior of cooperative arrangments.
5. The moment a macro-system is broken up into subsectors it no longer holds together it cannot be built from the bottom up either.

Last Week Answers

The answers this week are brought to you by Phil Eschtruth Harrison.

1. If you need to file a claim (even during nonbusiness hours, when we are not available), submit the form by fax or online. [Removed comma after "available".]
2. Please verify your address (our database needs to be updated). [Moved comma outside closing parenthesis.] Or, another option would be to make it a separate sentence like this: Please verify your address. (Our database needs to be updated.)
3. It is extremely important that all of your membership data is verified before the end of the month (when we finalize our billing). [Removed extra period after word "billing".]
4. Use our paperless option (it's easy, we swear!), and we'll give you a credit to use in our online store.[Removed comma before the parentheses.]
5. Choose the Internet speed that's perfect for your needs. (We offer four different speed and price options.) [Added a period after "needs" to make it two separate sentences.]
6. Our network is 99.9% reliable (even during extreme weather events). [Moved period outside the closing parenthesis.]

By far the hardest item was number 4, with 25 percent of respondents getting something wrong–usually removing the comma after the parenthesis. This sentence is actually two complete independent clauses, so a comma is needed, along with the word and, to separate them. Although extremely short sentences can be combined with a conjunction alone, the parenthetical element adds enough complexity that I think the comma is required. One respondent removed the exclamation point, but that is not required.