The Big Island (Swim #9; Totally Random Complilation of Stuff)

This has to be one of the coolest pictures ever:

Hawaii, courtesy of googlemaps

This is what I do at work all day. Fun times! A comment Amy (the other editor) and I left for a writer, who asked a great question about a sentence we edited:

You are certainly correct that when you have one subject (you) with a compound verb (display and review), no comma is included in the sentence. In such a case, you would correctly say, “You display the Serial 0/0/0 interface statistics and review the traffic marking information.” However, this comes across as a part of a narrative, as if you’re telling a story, not giving directions. In addition, it requires the “you” at the beginning of the sentence.

Here we wanted to convey that the reader is required to do two things; these are commands (“imperative mood” in grammar speak). In such a case, you can remove the you but you still have a compound sentence—two subjects (implied you and you) and two verbs (display and review). To avoid having a run-on sentence, you need a comma as a separator.

The main thing in the original construction is that we required action, and that requirement is the clearest with the you omitted and the comma included.

However, we need to make another change here that will require us to remove the comma. We need to add “On Router2” to the beginning of this sentence since you honored our request to remove “on Router2” from the directions at the beginning of the Task. Thus the sentence should be changed to read

“On Router2, display the Serial 0/0/0 interface statistics and review the traffic marking information.”

Although it’s basically the same situation, with the implied you before each verb, we do not use a comma in this instance, because we want it to be clear that “On Router2” applies to the entire remaining sentence, not just to the first clause (ending in “interface”). A comma after “interface” would imply that “On Router2” applied only to the first action we’re instructing the user to perform. This is definitely an exception to the rule described above, and we realize that this is potentially confusing. Also, this rule is supported in the style guide we use, the Gregg Reference Manual, and may not actually be addressed in other grammar manuals that you may consult.

Reply from writer and programmer Andrew, who I don't think I've ever met:

:-) Thank you! I hope you don’t mind being my grammar teacher from time to time. It makes sense now. I grew a smile while reading this; it felt like one of those eureka moments when you finally nail the crossword, Sudoku, or whatever puzzle you prefer.

The Gregg Reference Manual is awesome. A professor lent me one last semester, and I plan on purchasing one for myself after I sell some off my other books.

Thank you again for explaining this. I have wanted to ask why since the last time this was brought up, but I didn’t want to sound like I was questioning the edits or arguing.

I'll be honest: It made me smile!

Today was not a day off like yesterday was, so I actually did some work: Swim #9 is 200-300-400-500 @ 45 seconds. My times were 3:07, 4:47, 6:44, 8:26 for a total of 25:19. My per 100-m average was as follows:

• 200: 1:33
• 300: 1:35
• 400: 1:40
• 500: 1:41

Last time I did this was Tuesday, April 21. My times were 3:13, 5:06, 6:59, and 8:55. My per-100 m average was as follows:

• 200: 1:37
• 300: 1:42
• 400: 1:45
• 500: 1:47

This week, I got slightly slower as I went...bummer! However, I was WAY faster than last time: 1:09 total! I felt strong and efficient, too, and I was really trying to use my muscles right and keep my chest up and keep turning and not take in too much water (I only weighed 1 pound more after, so that's good). It was a fun swim in the Donelson pool next to a lady who actually knew what she was doing. During the entire set, I think we only turned at the same time once and I caught her every time. Woohoo!

The best part of the workout, however, was the run, which I got to do with Craig, Will, Dan, and Emma, four pro XTerra triathletes who are here for a few days. It was great to be able to pick their brains a little about training and racing and just hang out with them for a while. I don't get many chances to do that! We ran about 4 miles and then went back and did a few drills: butt kicks, high knees without the back leg leaving the ground, high knee skips, bounds (or the gazelle), toe walking, and heel walking. Will, who was leading us in this part, was saying that even if you improve 1% by doing drills, that 1% adds up over a day while doing an Ironman. I was happy to hear that since Will and I have been doing drills and skills work for a while; I felt very adept at those!