Re: USAGE: "all"

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 9:30 PM
Subject: Re: USAGE: "all"


> MJR = Mark J. Reed
> JL  = John LeLand
>
> MJR> Compare "My brother, Jacob, is coming over
> MJR> this weekend." with "My brother Jacob is coming over this weekend."
>
> JL> According to the grammar handbook I use in teaching Eng 102, putting
> JL> commas around Jacob in that sentence would be a punctuation  error,
> JL> because Jacob is a restrictive appositive.
>
> I'd say that whether it's restrictive or not depends on context.  If
> the speaker has only one brother, then the fact that his name is Jacob
> is not restrictive, but just informative.  I agree with the use of
> commas only for non-restrictive appositives.
I use commas intuitively.  That is, I put them when I would pause in actual
speech.

> -Mark
>