Comment by IncRnd
3 years ago
Since I am now a hyper-hyphen-partisan-pundit after reading that blog post - I'd like to comment on your hyper-hyphenated comment.
> “Sometimes writing for money - rather than for art or pleasure - is really quite enjoyable.”
To me this looks like a cryptic-case of the corrective comma.
“Sometimes writing for money, rather than for art or pleasure, is really quite enjoyable.”
Your first sentence should also use a comma rather than the wrong dash.
That's why I used the dash...
The way I was taught, you use the comma for a brief aside--em dashes are used for a larger diversion (and parenthesis are for the most tenuous connections.)
In other words a reader should be able to skip reading the contents of parenthesis with negligible impact on the context or meaning of the sentence. They should be able to skip reading the contents of em-dash-seperated text without changing the meaning of the sentence. And text between commas should be considered integral to the sentence, while secondary to the primary gist.
What you reference is that commas are used to set off non-restrictive clauses, where the meaning of the sentence is clear without the additional clause. Though, the non-restrictive clause provides additional description of a word in the main sentence.
Such as:
Sometimes writing for money, rather than for art or pleasure, is really quite enjoyable.
Other than that, many people have come up with many writing styles. We mostly seem to be able to understand each other, so we are "all good".
“Sometimes writing for money - I have other aims besides art or pleasure - is really quite enjoyable.”