4 ms·
I really enjoyed this story. However I did struggle on one part: > Whitson, his 13-year-old son and girlfriend, Krystal Ramirez, had decided to spend Father's
by laumars 7y ago
I really enjoyed this story. However I did struggle on one part:
> Whitson, his 13-year-old son and girlfriend, Krystal Ramirez, had decided to spend Father's Day weekend backpacking the Arroyo Seco River.
It took me longer to parse this sentence than I should perhaps admit to. The first couple of reads lead me to believe his son and girlfriend were the same person.
- jdbernard 7y agoNice place for an Oxford comma.
- laumars 7y agoI was thinking this too. I'm generally a big fan of the Oxford comma.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- lonelappde 7y agoThe Oxford comma isn't the issue here. The issue is that "his" binds both son and girlfriend, and therefore needs an "and" in front of it. It's not grammatical as is.
- rpmisms 7y agoIt would still read perplexingly. The Oxford comma isn't a tool for the inept; rather, the ept.
- Spare_account 7y agoIt's interesting how sometimes what appears to be a prefix, isn't.
- rpmisms 7y agoThat is an affront up with which I will not put.
- hervature 7y agoJust an fyi, Oxford comma only applies to lists of 3 or more. I think this is just a dangling modifier.
- kbutler 7y agoLeaving out the oxford comma is like relying on JavaScript automatic semicolon insertion - it works fine, until it doesn't.
- ChristianBundy 7y agoThankfully we have linters!
- wvenable 7y agoJust imagine if he had a daughter instead. I don't know why some linguists are so against the Oxford comma.
- CWuestefeld 7y agoI'm still not sure whether it's the dad's girlfriend or the son's.
- parliament32 7y agoDefinitely an oxford comma situation, and need to fix those commas around the girlfriend's name. Whitson is the subject, not the son: > Whitson, his 13-year-old son, and girlfriend Krystal Ramirez had decided to spend Father's Day weekend backpacking...