Timeline for Are there three clauses or two in this one sentence?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Aug 17, 2019 at 1:46 | history | edited | ColleenV |
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| Aug 15, 2019 at 14:04 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | Yes, that's too many commas. I think that particular sentence is hard to read just because of the word outside. Initially, one might think the opening clause ends with the word street. But once you realize that the sentence begins: Blinking away the brightness of the street outside..., the rest of it falls into place pretty easily. | |
| Aug 15, 2019 at 13:34 | comment | added | puppetsock | @J.R. Thank you. But can you tell me, how did FSF believe that his eyes could talk to another man? In other words, I still have my tongue in my cheek. I'm teasing about "classics" that use deliberately obscure writing style. This is how I first read this sentence. "Blinking away, the brightness of the street, outside my eyes, picked him out, obscurely talking to another man in the anteroom." Yes, by sitting and puzzling over this sentence for a while I can parse what the author probably meant. But it causes me to put the book back on the book seller's shelf. | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 21:25 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @puppetsock - Here is an interesting blog post on what makes a classic a classic. They don't tend to be superficial, easy reads. In many cases, I think they are assigned in school before a young reader is ready to truly appreciate them. | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 21:20 | history | edited | J.R.♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 14, 2019 at 19:57 | comment | added | puppetsock | Lately I have been trying to read a lot of books labeled as "classics." Jane Austen, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oscar Wilde, you get the idea. And the thing I'm seeing is, I don't understand what makes them "classics." Because the main thing I find is, they are hard to read. How did the brightness of the street pick him out? Sigh. Maybe I should go back to grade school and learn to read again. | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 19:34 | vote | accept | b2ok | ||
| Aug 14, 2019 at 19:32 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 1 | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 19:21 | comment | added | Weather Vane | Three clauses. "...the street outside my eyes..." really needs a comma, as you say. You can't expect writers or proof-readers (or anyone) to be perfect, and mistakes do slip through, just as they do (perhaps more so) in movies. Good catch. Unless FSF did that deliberately, to make you think of another meaning. | |
| Aug 14, 2019 at 18:59 | history | edited | b2ok | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 14, 2019 at 18:46 | history | asked | b2ok | CC BY-SA 4.0 |