Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Dexter
Quote:
Originally posted by ChuckElias
Quote:
Originally posted by Mark Dexter
My grandmother, who snorts crack, is 82 years old.
-vs-
My grandmother who snorts crack is 82 years old.
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I'm having a hard time distinguishing these two sentences. 
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In the comma-ized (yes - I made it up) sentence, "who snorts crack" becomes an independent (I think) clause. It implies that you have one grandmother and she snorts crack. The sentence without commas implies that you have two (or more) grandmothers, and you are talking about the one who snorts crack.
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This is a great example of how experience tinges our understanding of language. I equated those two sentences precisely b/c I have only one grandmother. So distinguishing between grandmothers (as in the comma-ized sentence) is irrelevant for me, thus I ignored the obvious meaning. Very cool.
Chuck