" We are enjoying a summertime of relentless rain, and a few really nice days. With all of that rain comes terrific fruits".
“We are enjoying a summertime of relentless rain, and a few really nice days. With all of the rains comes terrific fruit”.
“We are enjoying a summertime of relentless rain, and a few really nice days. With all of that rains come terrific fruits”.
This is from a note I just wrote to an Uncle. ( Not Cecil. ). It’s just driving me bonkers. Which is correct? I used # 1 in the note, but none of these feel correct. ( Or, heh…none of this feels correct )
I think that your main question was subject / verb agreement in terms of plurals. In that case I believe that both #1 and #2 are technically correct, although I prefer the second.
Mandarax seemed to disagree with you starting the second sentence “With…” that seems to make it a dependent clause (although that’s more the way most people speak). So a different construct might be “Fruit comes with all of that rain.” Or just append the clause to the previous sentence as previously suggested.
Actually, I think that #2 and #3 are correct (except for “that rains” in #3, which I assume was a typo). I didn’t read #2 carefully enough to notice that the subject was changed from “fruits” to “fruit.”
There is no dependent clause involved; “with all of the/that rain/s” is an adverbial prepositional phrase. “Fruit” or “fruits” is the subject, and the correct form is “fruit comes” or “fruits come.”
I can’t get past your first sentence. No comma is needed in that sentence. The only time a comma is used before “and” is in a sequence of more than two.
The comma is perfectly acceptable in dialogue or informal writing, like a personal letter. You should strike it out, however, in an English Master’s thesis.
Um. I have a problem with commas. I do. I sprinkle them throughout my writing the way 8 year olds sprinkle jimmies on a soft twisted cone in the summertime.
I agree that the comma in #1 is superfluous. My apologies. The rest of this is riveting.
You have no clue how hard it was to compose this post without using a single comma.
You’re being pedantic and applying the rigid rules of formal, written English to spoken dialogue. Few things in English are more open to interpretation than the comma–well, ok, the dash–and it’s perfectly acceptable to use a comma to denote the rhythm of speech in dialogue.
I’m half with you. I don’t like the comma there, and I think it interrupts the flow of the sentence. It’s not necessarily wrong, but I think most editors would strike it, especially give the current trend towards “open” (less use of commas) punctuation. Grammatically, it is not needed. But, if the writer wants to create a pause in the sentence, it’s okay.
Your rule about commas only being used before “and” in a sequence of more than two is wrong. It’s also used with independent clauses. For example, no comma should be used with the following dependent clauses:
Bill went to the store and bought some apples.
However, you should use it when connecting independent clauses:
Bill went to the store, and Mary stayed at home to prepare the cake.
However, if the independent clause is short, you may omit the comma:
All are. They are all understandable as to meaning. They all sound somewhat akward. Joe’s ““With all of that rain comes terrific fruit.”” sounds the least cumbersome
There is no “Board of Grammar” to make a ruling. Even the more common grammar sources disagree considerably. All it has to do is not sound stupid and be understandable.
I’d say “We’re enjoying a summertime of relentless rain, but all that rain will produce a terrific fruit harvest. We’ve also had a few really nice days, however.” You could put a “-” in place of the comma in the first sentance.
DrDeth – I’m pretty flexible on grammar and language issues, but the OP is asking about what is grammatically correct, and there is factual basis to the answer.
In the first sentence, all grammar books and style guides would point out the subject-verb agreement error in the second sentence. “With all of that rain comes terrific fruits,” is absolutely incorrect. It’s either “come” or “fruit,” but not “comes fruits.” There is no grey area here.
With sentence three, it’s either “those rains,” or “that rain,” not “that rains.” Once again, no grey area. Every grammararian will agree on this.
The comma can be argued — it’s a stylistic point. If the OP intends what follows the comma to act as an afterthought, then it’s okay.
I lean towards liking the comma in the first sentence.
If it’s there, it certainly causes no significant problems with understanding. Nor does it contrast so obviously with grammar rules that it distracts or slows the reader. So the question is, does it add anything to the message of the sentence?
And I think it could. It depends on how the writer wants to present the nice days. Presenting the nice days as an equal part of the summer along with the rainy days requires no comma. But a comma would help shift the focus of the sentence on to the rainy days, and keep the nice days as just a contrast. [Poor attempt to show the point in the last two sentences]. And since the next sentence is indeed about the rain, I think the comma serves a good purpose here.
Of course, we don’t know what the writer was trying to do, especially without any more of the text (God I sound like an academic critic, don’t I?), but just going on the two sentences, I like the original better than Dr Deths’ recasting (no offense, DD).
As Dennis Miller used to say though, that’s just my opinion; I could be wrong.
If the OP desired a pause, then a dash should’ve been used. I realize that the dash should not be used indiscriminately, but this would be a good occasion. Personally, I usually would prefer a new sentence beginning with “And,” but here a dash seems more appropriate.
). It’s just driving me bonkers. Which is correct? I used # 1 in the note, but none of these feel correct. ( Or, heh…none of this feels correct )