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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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PUNCTUATION<br />

Zelda apparently has only one brother, and his name happens <strong>to</strong><br />

be Mark. She also, quite properly, has only one husband, and his<br />

name happens <strong>to</strong> be Hal.<br />

Zelda showed up at the party with her brother Mark and her husband<br />

Hal.<br />

Zelda apparently has more than one brother and has brought the<br />

one named Mark <strong>to</strong> the party; on the husband front, she has some<br />

explaining <strong>to</strong> do.<br />

<strong>The</strong> next-door neighbors, a pair of curmudgeonly retirees, would sit on<br />

their porch and hurl insults at passing squirrels.<br />

<strong>The</strong> next caller, a doc<strong>to</strong>r, defended the policy.<br />

<strong>The</strong> old rocking chair, the one that had sat unused in the basement for<br />

years, fetched eight hundred dollars.<br />

Teachers using the controversial book were strong defenders of its<br />

usefulness.<br />

Mimi, the neighbor two doors down, was organizing a street sale.<br />

Mr. Douglas the s<strong>to</strong>rekeeper warned Mr. Douglas the street vendor<br />

<strong>to</strong> stay off his turf.<br />

<strong>The</strong> house with the rock garden is up for sale.<br />

<strong>The</strong> down<strong>to</strong>wn core, once considered doomed, is making a comeback.<br />

Art once viewed as valueless is now commanding high prices.<br />

Clauses <strong>to</strong>o can act as restrictive or nonrestrictive descrip<strong>to</strong>rs,<br />

as described next.<br />

IF A DEPENDENT CLAUSE IS NONRESTRICTIVE, MARK IT OFF<br />

WITH COMMAS. IF IT IS RESTRICTIVE, DO NOT USE COMMAS<br />

As described in "Basic Sentence Structure" on page 55, in one type<br />

of dependent clause, the subordinating word is a pronoun. This type<br />

of dependent clause can function as a restrictive or nonrestrictive<br />

descrip<strong>to</strong>r, the same way that a word or a phrase can.<br />

To illustrate: Suppose we have a passage of text that describes<br />

two men approaching, one of them dawdling behind the other. <strong>The</strong><br />

reader is then <strong>to</strong>ld:<br />

<strong>The</strong> man who had lingered behind suddenly quickened his pace.<br />

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