Response to the paper Use of comma before the copulative conjunction a in a compound complex sentence

Abstract

The paper polemically comments on the explanations presented in the mentioned article. It shows that the concept of ellipsis in syntax should not be mixed with pragmatic/contextual re-interpretation of sentence content.

The paper concludes that the very concept of a "punctuation mistake" in fiction or (printed) journalism should be limited to cases where the (wrong) punctuation gives rise to ambiguity or misinterpretation.

Keywords

• punctuation in complex sentences
• ellipsis
• re-interpretation in syntax