Declan Fox wrote on 12/10/2004 16:13:
> I did read a very interesting comment on the book by someone like
> Simon Jenkins
That was The Times. I was impressed by what Jenkins wrote (as I usually
am) and have tried to adapt his suggestions into my writing style
including the avoidance of commas where possible.
This is, partly, because I, sometimes, have to transfer someone's
written pieces onto a website, and I, speaking personally, tend to find
that, on the whole, he constructs his sentences with what appear, to me
at least, to be too many commas.
Lawyers, I believe, when framing legal documents, try, as far as
possible, to avoid commas.
Let us, now, deconstruct Declan's sentence in a, perhaps forlorn,
attempt to stay on-thread.
"One year, before I die, I hope to spend a LOT of time seriously reading
Derrida and Said and Chomsky."
Is "one year" necessary? Does he mean that he will stop reading D S & C
after twelve months have elapsed? Let us hope not. So we might put:
"Before I die I hope to spend a lot of time seriously reading D S & C."
But is "before I die" necessary? He will certainly not be able to do it
afterwards. So we could simply put "I hope to spend a lot of time
seriously reading D S & C". On the other hand this phrase is a useful
reminder of our mortality and how we sometimes put things off to a
future date which never happens.
Which invites me to enquire whether anybody on their deathbed ever says
"I wish I'd spent more time on GP-UK"?
--
Michael Leuty
Nottingham, UK
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