Re: USAGE: "all"
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, June 30, 2003, 20:30 |
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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.
-Mark
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