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Subject:Re: roll in your soup From:Bev Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH1 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> Date:Thu, 11 May 1995 18:22:02 MST
Uh-oh. I see sides forming on this issue. I'm with Mark Levinson
on this one. The only way this sentence is ambiguous is if you
see roll as a verb. If you see roll as a verb, the sentence is
not grammatically correct. As Mark said, it would need another
"or" before "biscuits."
Unless you ignore grammar, there is only one meaning to this
sentence--with or without the comma after biscuits.
=*= Beverly Parks =*= bparks -at- huachuca-emh1 -dot- army -dot- mil =*=
=*= "These opinions are mine, not my employer's." =*=
=*= =*= =*=
======================
>> "He always used to tell us kids, 'Don' break yer crackers,
>> bread, biscuits or roll in yer soup'."
>>
>> ** I don't buy it. The comma never makes the list harder to read
>> or more ambiguous. The above sentence means the same thing with
>> or without a comma before "or". If there were another "or"
>> before "biscuits", the sentence would mean something different.
>> __________________________________________________________________________
>> ||- Mark L. Levinson, mark -at- sd -dot- co -dot- il -- Box 5780, 46157 Herzlia, Israel -||