editing people, opinions?

[winterbadger]

"this, along with these, does that thing"

The commas really belong there set the central clause off; one wouldn't write "this along with these does that thing." But what is that bugger? It's not an appositive (it's in addition, not describing or elucidating). It's not introduced by a conjunction and forming a plural subject (one wouldn't write "This, along with these, do that thing.") I feel as if I know how to punctuate this sentence and what the correct verb agreement is, but I don't know *why* (or, more accurately, how to describe that clause, or even what the construction "along with" is) and it's bugging the heck out of me.

Comments

[mazzie.livejournal.com]

hard to say without the original material, but if it is, indeed, restrictive, I sayeth take out the commas and reconstruct the sentence with "and" instead of "along with" in a way that makes sense.

i was very fortunate when i got this job to get a $500 book-ordering "bonus." i was a little appalled to see that there were no reference manuals at all! CMOS is my favorite, followed by Strunk and White, then etymology dictionaries. i spent some time leafing through Strumpf's The Grammar Bible (which is my personal copy - i'm buying grammar books for pleasure now!) but CMOS saved the day.

[winterbadger]

Strunk & White, source of my favourite editing instruction:

"Omit needless words! Omit needless word! Omit needless words!"

:-)