Competent Writing Skills (was Re: teacher rants)

[S J Pate]

At 11:37 AM 7/14/97 -0400, Joe Varo wrote:

>Is it really a complete sentence if you have to mentally supply the
>preposition "on"?
>
>If that's the case, then can we not, in light of the obvious poetic effect
>that the author is striving for, perhaps assume that "summer afternoons"
>is being apostrophized?  I.e., [O] summer afternoons, when the tar bubbles
>bloom....
>
>Nope...I'm still not convinced.
>
>Joe
>
>
>
Try a less flowery sentence using the same construction:

"Weeknights after 8 p.m., I gather the whole family around the computer to
read Pynchon-l."

Perhaps a little informal, but I think it still works. The apostrophization
possibility cerainly wouldn't work grammatically. If that was what he was
trying to do (I hadn't thought of it), then he needs more than a comma. He
needs an editor.

SJ