Seen online:
When you are in Combat; far from the target; there is rarely a shot fired against you.
I see at least three errors. Can you fix them and tell me why they need fixing?
Thursday, October 27, 2022
spot the errors and fix
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3 comments:
I don't understand why "combat" is capitalized. I'd replace both semi-colons with commas.
But what do I know about punctuation?
Very good—but I see you conveniently avoided answering WHY.
combat = common noun, not proper noun
In German, all nouns are capitalized, and in 1700s-era English, people used to capitalize certain common nouns for reasons of stress, but we don't do that shit anymore.
semicolons to commas
You are correct: both semicolons ought to be commas. This is a complex sentence, i.e., a sentence with both an independent and a dependent clause. Had this been a compound sentence (2 independent clauses), one semicolon might have been justified. The clauses in a complex sentence are separated by commas.
When you are in combat = dependent clause
"Dependent" means "cannot stand on its own." So "When you are in combat" is not a complete thought; it requires something to finish it. When a dependent clause comes first, it needs a comma after it.
far from the target = prepositional phrase
The above phrase should be surrounded by commas as a parenthetical expression.
there is rarely a shot fired against you = independent clause
The above clause is the main clause and is a complete thought.
So, yes:
When you are in combat, far from the target, there is rarely a shot fired against you.
Trump likes uselessly capitalizing common nouns. Maybe he thinks were still in the 1700s.
Fascinating explanation. Thanks for the lesson!
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