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.
All comments are subject to approval before they are published, so they will not appear immediately. Comments should be civil, relevant, and substantive. Anonymous comments are not allowed and will be unceremoniously deleted. For more on my comments policy, please see this entry on my other blog.
I don't understand why "combat" is capitalized. I'd replace both semi-colons with commas.
ReplyDeleteBut what do I know about punctuation?
Very good—but I see you conveniently avoided answering WHY.
ReplyDeletecombat = 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!
ReplyDelete