Saturday, October 09, 2010

Where A Comma Would Be Helpful

And because of the inevitable challenge studies on sex face in persuading people to respond honestly, the findings should be treated with some skepticism.

I had to read the above passage a couple of times to figure out the proper meaning. English is a marvelous language in which words can be adjective or noun, or noun or verb, depending on context. Here a comma placed after "challenge" would have been most helpful. Yes, good grammar generally forbids a comma after an introductory prepositional phrase, but it's allowed if the phrase is long.

Ambiguous writing may be a continuation of the Wall Street Journal's subtle campaign to stretch the brains of its readers.

2 comments:

Joanne said...

Hmm, I think a comma after "challenge" would be even more confusing!

Stephen said...

Joanne, you're right. I think I had a brain freeze when I made this post. A bracketed "that" may be the solution.

"And because of the inevitable challenge [that] studies on sex face in persuading people to respond honestly, the findings should be treated with some skepticism."