Here's a sentence from Azar's blue book:
The sight of a butterfly floating from flower to flower on a warm sunny day brightens anyone's heart.
It's from an exercise on coordinating conjunctions.
I have a student who wants to punctuate it as follows:
The sight of a butterfly, floating from flower to flower on a warm sunny day, brightens anyone's heart.
He sees it as a relative clause - non essential information.
I can see his point. I also feel that the whole subject (the sight of a butterfly floating from flower to flower on a woarm sunny day) could stand alone without punctuation. However, I can't come up with a grammatically based argument supporting myself. And of course, I could be completely wrong.
Anyone out there have any arguments supporting either point of view? A huge thank you in advance.
PS - I don't have the teacher's book
commas anyone?
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Seems like the floating is an essential part of this delightful scene; therefore, I like the commas.
Commas can be used to set of non-essential information, as in
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the US, served during the civil war.
I suppose there may be a context for this sentence in which the floating is non-essential, or extra, information. But it seems more likely to me that it's necessary to getting the main point across.
Better to teach grammar with a context of some sort, and then such questions are more easily resolved.
For grammar practice with listening, with a clear context, by the way, please visit English Zoom!!! www.englishzoom.com It's free!
Commas can be used to set of non-essential information, as in
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the US, served during the civil war.
I suppose there may be a context for this sentence in which the floating is non-essential, or extra, information. But it seems more likely to me that it's necessary to getting the main point across.
Better to teach grammar with a context of some sort, and then such questions are more easily resolved.
For grammar practice with listening, with a clear context, by the way, please visit English Zoom!!! www.englishzoom.com It's free!
Re: commas anyone?
[quote='Azar"]The sight of a butterfly floating from flower to flower on a warm sunny day brightens anyone's heart.[/quote]
Try,
It's not the butterfly per se that brightens one's heart; it's the butterfly's floating from flower to flower on a warn sunny day that brighten's one's heart.
Compare,
It's the sight of a butterfly sitting on a branch on a warm sunny day that brightens one's heart.
Try,
It's not the butterfly per se that brightens one's heart; it's the butterfly's floating from flower to flower on a warn sunny day that brighten's one's heart.
Compare,
It's the sight of a butterfly sitting on a branch on a warm sunny day that brightens one's heart.