“to make sure” parallelism and comma
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Is the first comma needed in the sentence "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
My thinking is that although we normally put a comma if there are two independent clauses linked with "and", these are not really independent clauses because of the presence of "To make sure". In other words, "you will avoid future questions" links directly to "To make sure".
Therefore, the correct punctuation should be "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
Can you confirm if my thinking is correct?
EDIT:
Well, I don't know how to show what effort I've made to find out the answer myself. Most sources, e.g. this one make it clear that we use a comma when two clauses are joined with "and", whereas no comma is needed if the two elements are not full clauses. For example in "He slammed the door and never came back." "never came back" is not a clause as it's missing the subject. Both "the audit will go smoothly" and "you will avoid problems" are complete clauses as they have their subjects (different in each case), yet both of them are part of a dependent clause starting with "To make sure ..."
I was unsuccessful finding any sources that describe the case of independent clauses making up a dependent clause. I don't even know if my terminology is correct here.
That is, in a nutshell, the reason for me asking this question.
commas parallelism
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 9 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
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Is the first comma needed in the sentence "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
My thinking is that although we normally put a comma if there are two independent clauses linked with "and", these are not really independent clauses because of the presence of "To make sure". In other words, "you will avoid future questions" links directly to "To make sure".
Therefore, the correct punctuation should be "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
Can you confirm if my thinking is correct?
EDIT:
Well, I don't know how to show what effort I've made to find out the answer myself. Most sources, e.g. this one make it clear that we use a comma when two clauses are joined with "and", whereas no comma is needed if the two elements are not full clauses. For example in "He slammed the door and never came back." "never came back" is not a clause as it's missing the subject. Both "the audit will go smoothly" and "you will avoid problems" are complete clauses as they have their subjects (different in each case), yet both of them are part of a dependent clause starting with "To make sure ..."
I was unsuccessful finding any sources that describe the case of independent clauses making up a dependent clause. I don't even know if my terminology is correct here.
That is, in a nutshell, the reason for me asking this question.
commas parallelism
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 9 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
1
I agree, but you are supposed to show what efforts you have made to find the answer yourself.
– Tuffy
Apr 2 at 21:28
I agree that the first comma needs to be removed. But you would also do well to consider the other points in the answer by rhetorician. The last of the three versions in that answer is a definite improvement over your wording.
– Andreas Blass
Sep 1 at 1:52
add a comment |
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
Is the first comma needed in the sentence "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
My thinking is that although we normally put a comma if there are two independent clauses linked with "and", these are not really independent clauses because of the presence of "To make sure". In other words, "you will avoid future questions" links directly to "To make sure".
Therefore, the correct punctuation should be "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
Can you confirm if my thinking is correct?
EDIT:
Well, I don't know how to show what effort I've made to find out the answer myself. Most sources, e.g. this one make it clear that we use a comma when two clauses are joined with "and", whereas no comma is needed if the two elements are not full clauses. For example in "He slammed the door and never came back." "never came back" is not a clause as it's missing the subject. Both "the audit will go smoothly" and "you will avoid problems" are complete clauses as they have their subjects (different in each case), yet both of them are part of a dependent clause starting with "To make sure ..."
I was unsuccessful finding any sources that describe the case of independent clauses making up a dependent clause. I don't even know if my terminology is correct here.
That is, in a nutshell, the reason for me asking this question.
commas parallelism
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
Is the first comma needed in the sentence "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
My thinking is that although we normally put a comma if there are two independent clauses linked with "and", these are not really independent clauses because of the presence of "To make sure". In other words, "you will avoid future questions" links directly to "To make sure".
Therefore, the correct punctuation should be "To make sure that the audit will go smoothly and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please ..."?
Can you confirm if my thinking is correct?
EDIT:
Well, I don't know how to show what effort I've made to find out the answer myself. Most sources, e.g. this one make it clear that we use a comma when two clauses are joined with "and", whereas no comma is needed if the two elements are not full clauses. For example in "He slammed the door and never came back." "never came back" is not a clause as it's missing the subject. Both "the audit will go smoothly" and "you will avoid problems" are complete clauses as they have their subjects (different in each case), yet both of them are part of a dependent clause starting with "To make sure ..."
I was unsuccessful finding any sources that describe the case of independent clauses making up a dependent clause. I don't even know if my terminology is correct here.
That is, in a nutshell, the reason for me asking this question.
commas parallelism
commas parallelism
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
edited Apr 2 at 22:05
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
asked Apr 2 at 21:08
Adrian Grzebyk
83
83
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 9 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
bumped to the homepage by Community♦ 9 mins ago
This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
1
I agree, but you are supposed to show what efforts you have made to find the answer yourself.
– Tuffy
Apr 2 at 21:28
I agree that the first comma needs to be removed. But you would also do well to consider the other points in the answer by rhetorician. The last of the three versions in that answer is a definite improvement over your wording.
– Andreas Blass
Sep 1 at 1:52
add a comment |
1
I agree, but you are supposed to show what efforts you have made to find the answer yourself.
– Tuffy
Apr 2 at 21:28
I agree that the first comma needs to be removed. But you would also do well to consider the other points in the answer by rhetorician. The last of the three versions in that answer is a definite improvement over your wording.
– Andreas Blass
Sep 1 at 1:52
1
1
I agree, but you are supposed to show what efforts you have made to find the answer yourself.
– Tuffy
Apr 2 at 21:28
I agree, but you are supposed to show what efforts you have made to find the answer yourself.
– Tuffy
Apr 2 at 21:28
I agree that the first comma needs to be removed. But you would also do well to consider the other points in the answer by rhetorician. The last of the three versions in that answer is a definite improvement over your wording.
– Andreas Blass
Sep 1 at 1:52
I agree that the first comma needs to be removed. But you would also do well to consider the other points in the answer by rhetorician. The last of the three versions in that answer is a definite improvement over your wording.
– Andreas Blass
Sep 1 at 1:52
add a comment |
1 Answer
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0
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Your placement of the comma in the first version is fine. What is not fine, however, is the wording of the sentence:
To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please . . ..
First, get rid of the that; it's not needed.
Second, make the two parts of the sentence more closely parallel by adding an infinitive to the second part. So,
To make sure the audit will go smoothly, and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
Technically, the first comma is not absolutely necessary, particularly if you shorten the sentence even more, as in the following suggestion:
To make the audit go smoothly and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
Your placement of the comma in the first version is fine. What is not fine, however, is the wording of the sentence:
To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please . . ..
First, get rid of the that; it's not needed.
Second, make the two parts of the sentence more closely parallel by adding an infinitive to the second part. So,
To make sure the audit will go smoothly, and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
Technically, the first comma is not absolutely necessary, particularly if you shorten the sentence even more, as in the following suggestion:
To make the audit go smoothly and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
Your placement of the comma in the first version is fine. What is not fine, however, is the wording of the sentence:
To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please . . ..
First, get rid of the that; it's not needed.
Second, make the two parts of the sentence more closely parallel by adding an infinitive to the second part. So,
To make sure the audit will go smoothly, and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
Technically, the first comma is not absolutely necessary, particularly if you shorten the sentence even more, as in the following suggestion:
To make the audit go smoothly and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Your placement of the comma in the first version is fine. What is not fine, however, is the wording of the sentence:
To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please . . ..
First, get rid of the that; it's not needed.
Second, make the two parts of the sentence more closely parallel by adding an infinitive to the second part. So,
To make sure the audit will go smoothly, and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
Technically, the first comma is not absolutely necessary, particularly if you shorten the sentence even more, as in the following suggestion:
To make the audit go smoothly and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
Your placement of the comma in the first version is fine. What is not fine, however, is the wording of the sentence:
To make sure that the audit will go smoothly, and you will avoid future questions from auditors, please . . ..
First, get rid of the that; it's not needed.
Second, make the two parts of the sentence more closely parallel by adding an infinitive to the second part. So,
To make sure the audit will go smoothly, and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
Technically, the first comma is not absolutely necessary, particularly if you shorten the sentence even more, as in the following suggestion:
To make the audit go smoothly and to avoid future questions from auditors, please [answer the following questions to the best of your ability].
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
answered Apr 2 at 22:06
rhetorician
16.1k11952
16.1k11952
add a comment |
add a comment |
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1
I agree, but you are supposed to show what efforts you have made to find the answer yourself.
– Tuffy
Apr 2 at 21:28
I agree that the first comma needs to be removed. But you would also do well to consider the other points in the answer by rhetorician. The last of the three versions in that answer is a definite improvement over your wording.
– Andreas Blass
Sep 1 at 1:52