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To: Tax-chick

I do not formally know grammar, but I can pick out three subject-verb constructions in that sentence.

“It” and “is”; “one” and “must”; and “we” and “have.” The last two are separated by a clause (at least, I think that’s a clause there between the commas).

That sentence is of the long and convoluted type that I often find myself writing. In most cases, however, I go back and break my original long sentence into shorter, more easily managed, chunks.


60 posted on 02/23/2017 3:46:36 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: exDemMom

In a good sentence, there will be a clear subject and verb, to which subordinate clauses may be attached. The example sentence does not have a clear subject and verb. The pairs you mentioned are all “pronoun + linking verb” sets, rather than true nouns or verbs. That is one of several reasons it is a poor sentence.

One of my sons writes long, compound-complex sentences, sometimes with multiple semicolons. That style can be effective, but it’s easy for the point to get lost. I encourage him to break them up, not because they are incorrect, but because his teachers want to read a paper quickly to assign a grade, not at leisure to enjoy his style.


69 posted on 02/23/2017 3:57:44 AM PST by Tax-chick ("I prefer to think of myself as ... civilized." ~Jonathan Q. Higgins)
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