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This is why I think style guides that disallow parenthetical comments are ridiculous. If Ayn Rand was really the author's mother, I think it would make far more

This is why I think style guides that disallow parenthetical comments are ridiculous. If Ayn Rand was really the author's mother, I think it would make far more sense to say: "To my mother (Ayn Rand), and God." If it looks a little ridiculous, it's because it makes more sense this way: "To Ayn Rand (my mother), and God." In my honest opinion, most style guides are dogmatic to the point of stupidity. The first time I saw a non-scientific style-guide I spent a week ruminating on why people hated clear meaning so much. I have a similar question about endnotes. Why? If you want to share a single comment, why not use a footnote? Why make the reader flip to the back of your book to read a 4 word sentence?

leephillips 10y ago
I agree, for the most part, about style guides. But I wouldn't stick my Mom inside a pair of brackets (even if she were Ayn Rand). How about “To my mother, Ayn Rand, and to God.” EDIT: Well, I guess that might still be misinterpreted. A semicolon makes the meaning clearer (as it so often does): “To my mother, Ayn Rand; and to God.”
- Declanomous 10y ago
  That works, but I thought about it a bit, and I think we are all approaching the issue of book dedications from the wrong direction anyways. Book dedications are typically by themselves on a single page, so it seems like the best option would be to use whitespace to clarify meaning. I dedicate this book to: My mother, Ayn Rand And to God This also gets at the heart of the matter, which is that a lot of style guides are taken from publications that are trying to squeeze as much text in to a given space as possible. If you are writing something where space is not at a premium, such as a law, or the dedication in a book, you should probably ignore suggestions that are meant to save space. I think on some level writers are a bit like programmers, in the sense that writing a really clever Perl one-liner feels great, but if you have to go back and read what you've written later Python is probably a much better option.
- theseatoms 10y ago
  Why not use an em dash? "To my mother—Ayn Rand—and God." Is this flat out wrong?
  - rayiner 10y ago
    House style where I work (legal industry) is to set off appositive phrases with em dashes, and to use commas and semi-colons to indicate lists.
    - leephillips 10y ago
      "set off appositive phrases with em dashes" That is not English. Simple as that.
      - throwanem 10y ago
        It is absolutely English—stylistic English—and while you may not appreciate the choice of style, it is just that—a choice—which may be made or not made without need of accusations that the result you don't prefer is "not English".
  - oddlyaromatic 10y ago
    This is what I would do if I had to, but the real problem here is that we are trying to represent something that sounds fine when spoken aloud. It doesn't work as well in written form because if all the ambiguities pointed out above. So the better writer changes the sentence itself to read more fluently and not force the reader to parse something that is grammatically correct but ultimately clumsy. Maybe it needs to become two sentences to be clear, and that's ok.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> This is why I think style guides that disallow parenthetical comments are ridiculous I've never seen a style guide that restricted the use of dashes for appositives, especially where commas are ambiguous. Parentheses aren't necessary, just write "To my mother—Ayn Rand—and God."

leephillips 10y ago

I agree, for the most part, about style guides. But I wouldn't stick my Mom inside a pair of brackets (even if she were Ayn Rand). How about “To my mother, Ayn Rand, and to God.” EDIT: Well, I guess that might still be misinterpreted. A semicolon makes the meaning clearer (as it so often does): “To my mother, Ayn Rand; and to God.”

Declanomous 10y ago
That works, but I thought about it a bit, and I think we are all approaching the issue of book dedications from the wrong direction anyways. Book dedications are typically by themselves on a single page, so it seems like the best option would be to use whitespace to clarify meaning. I dedicate this book to: My mother, Ayn Rand And to God This also gets at the heart of the matter, which is that a lot of style guides are taken from publications that are trying to squeeze as much text in to a given space as possible. If you are writing something where space is not at a premium, such as a law, or the dedication in a book, you should probably ignore suggestions that are meant to save space. I think on some level writers are a bit like programmers, in the sense that writing a really clever Perl one-liner feels great, but if you have to go back and read what you've written later Python is probably a much better option.
theseatoms 10y ago
Why not use an em dash? "To my mother—Ayn Rand—and God." Is this flat out wrong?
- rayiner 10y ago
  House style where I work (legal industry) is to set off appositive phrases with em dashes, and to use commas and semi-colons to indicate lists.
  - leephillips 10y ago
    "set off appositive phrases with em dashes" That is not English. Simple as that.
    - throwanem 10y ago
      It is absolutely English—stylistic English—and while you may not appreciate the choice of style, it is just that—a choice—which may be made or not made without need of accusations that the result you don't prefer is "not English".
- oddlyaromatic 10y ago
  This is what I would do if I had to, but the real problem here is that we are trying to represent something that sounds fine when spoken aloud. It doesn't work as well in written form because if all the ambiguities pointed out above. So the better writer changes the sentence itself to read more fluently and not force the reader to parse something that is grammatically correct but ultimately clumsy. Maybe it needs to become two sentences to be clear, and that's ok.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> This is why I think style guides that disallow parenthetical comments are ridiculous I've never seen a style guide that restricted the use of dashes for appositives, especially where commas are ambiguous. Parentheses aren't necessary, just write "To my mother—Ayn Rand—and God."