tailieunhanh - The elements of style part 2

Summoned at last for lunch, he was silent and preoccupied, and soon excused himself to get back to the job. When the copy went off at last, in the afternoon RFD pouch — we were in Maine, a day's mail away from New York — he rarely seemed satisfied. "It isn't good enough,11 he said sometimes. "I wish it were better." | For more material and information please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at Nonrestrictive relative clauses are parenthetic as are similar clauses introduced by conjunctions indicating time or place. Commas are therefore needed. A nonrestrictive clause is one that does not serve to identify or define the antecedent noun. The audience which had at first been indifferent became more and more interested. In 1769 when Napoleon was born Corsica had but recently been acquired by France. Nether Stowey where Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a few miles from Bridgewater. In these sentences the clauses introduced by which when and where are nonrestrictive they do not limit or define they merely add something. In the first example the clause introduced by which does not serve to tell which of several possible audiences is meant the reader presumably knows that already. The clause adds parenthetically a statement supplementing that in the main clause. Each of the three sentences is a combination of two statements that might have been made independently. The audience was at first indifferent. Later it became more and more interested. Napoleon was born in 1769. At that time Corsica had but recently been acquired by France. Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner at Nether Stowey. Nether Stowey is a few miles from Bridgewater. Restrictive clauses by contrast are not parenthetic and are not set off by commas. Thus People who live in glass houses shouldn t throw stones. Here the clause introduced by who does serve to tell which people are meant the sentence unlike the sentences above cannot be split into two independent statements. The same principle of comma use applies to participial phrases and to appositives. People sitting in the rear couldn t hear restrictive 16 For more material and information please visit Tai Lieu Du Hoc at Uncle Bert being slightly deaf moved forward non-restrictive My cousin Bob is a talented .