Posted by Robert Hill on 09/06/00 from 129.11.153.35 via proxy proxy1.leeds.ac.uk:
In Reply to: Re: Narrative flow posted by John Richardson on September 01, 2000 at 15:58:55:
The relevant words, comparing the leading lights to a colon, go
something like this:
"like the stop called a colon, which I am just about to make : there,
like that."
It has never troubled me ... but I'm in danger of repeating a previous
discussion.
But if I were reading it aloud to someone, I would still omit from
"which" to the end of the sentence, because the whole idea of exhibiting
the colon only makes sense for a person who is reading the book for
themselves and has it in front of their eyes.
The thing that always irritates me most about S&A is a matter of content,
not style: the ludicrous idea that the Swallows don't know their own
birthdays.