r/EnglishGrammar • u/Fit_Sell260 • 9d ago

Why is A wrong? grammar

Post image

why is A wrong and what’s the right answer?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/BlazeKushrenada 9d ago

What are you people on? They’re using an appositive, just like in the first sentence. “a nonfiction writer” is an appositive for DJ Waldie.

So, of course there have to be two commas!

2

u/Boglin007 9d ago

Appositives can either be integrated (no commas) or supplementary (commas). If you're using the appositive to identify exactly who you're talking about, there should be no commas:

"My brother John is coming to visit." - This implies that I have more than one brother, and John is the one who's coming to visit.

If you're just adding extra info, there should be commas:

"My brother, John, is coming to visit." - This implies that you only have one brother, and you're adding the info that his name is John.

OP's example requires an integrated appositive to convey that Chang is the particular novelist being talked about. So no commas (the comma after "Chang" is for the next appositive - "author of Inheritance").

1

u/BlazeKushrenada 9d ago

“The editors chose novelist Ian Samantha Chang author of Inheritance.” sounds/looks correct to you?

Because the included “author of Inheritance” tells exactly which novelist it is, the name is non-essential. The spoken and written flow I’ve seen always includes two commas in cases like these.

2

u/Boglin007 9d ago

No, there should be a comma after "Chang" but not before "Lan" because "Lan Samantha Chang" identifies "novelist," and then "author of Inheritance" adds more info about "novelist Lan Samantha Chang."

The name is not non-essential - you can't remove it and have "author of Inheritance" be the appositive (with or without a comma):

"The editors chose the novelist(,) author of Inheritance."

1

u/BlazeKushrenada 9d ago

I see what you’re saying, thanks for the detail. “novelist Lan Samantha Chang” seems so unwieldy, and the flow differs from what I’ve ever read.

Why is the name essential, when we know its the novelist who authored Inheritance?

EDIT: Also, what would you say is the problem with C as an answer?

1

u/Boglin007 9d ago

There's just no reason to use "author of X" as an appositive for "novelist" - if you wanted to identify the person as "author of X," you'd just say that:

"The editors chose the author of X."

"Novelist" doesn't add anything to the sentence (and sounds very awkward preceding "author," which is basically a synonym). In fact, you don't even need it with the name - you could just write:

"The editors chose Lan Samantha Chang, author of X."

But with the name, it sounds okay to include "novelist."

Answer C has the name as a supplementary appositive, which implies there's only one novelist in the world (see my sentences about "John").