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Grammar
Q & A Newsgroup
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Member Posts: 560
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Posted
The following is a sentence from The Washington Post.
They cast the difference between kids who are succeeding in school and those who are not in terms of race and seem obsessed with what they call the "gap" between the test scores of white and black students. I first had trouble understanding the sentence because there was no comma. Isn't a comma necessary to make the meaning clearer? Like the sentence below? Or should another comma be placed before the phrase "in terms of race"? They cast the difference between kids who are succeeding in school and those who are not in terms of race, and seem obsessed with what they call the "gap" between the test scores of white and black students. Apple |
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Member Posts: 15182
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Posted
You are right, Apple. The comma is necessary for the meaning. Only the first comma is necessary and correct. The second comma that you mention would throw the sentence off a little. Here's another way -- not necessarily better -- to cast this sentence: They cast the difference in terms of race between kids who are succeeding in school and those who are not, and seem obsessed with what they call the "gap" between the test scores of white and black students. Or this: They cast -- in terms of race -- the difference between kids who are succeeding in school and those who are not, and seem obsessed with what they call the "gap" between the test scores of white and black students. |
