Dear HCN,
It’s time to remind you
and indirectly Jon Margolis that sentence fragments are not
particularly convincing or fun to read and that a comma is not a
semicolon.
From “The power of love, and its
opposite”:
“At the cost of a political firestorm
that a politically shaky administration can ill afford.” Isn’t the
first sentence, not fragment, in a paragraph supposed to introduce
an idea? This is the conclusion of the last sentence in the
preceding paragraph.
“The roadless rule is widely
(if not deeply) popular, environmental organizations are adept at
screaming, and from Capitol Hill to college campuses the outrage
would be palpable.” Commas are not to string together sentences. A
semicolon should replace the first comma. How is it that Jon has
three complete thoughts in a single sentence following a sentence
fragment introducing the same paragraph?
Clever?
Catchy? Not ignorant or slovenly.
“…, the areas
now under lease – where most of the oil and gas IS – were excluded
from the impacted acreage.”
See if you writers
and editors can figure that one out.
Rich Prodgers
Dillon, Montana
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Margolis, you fiend, stop torturing the language.
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