Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 August 1

= August 1 =

Comma usage
"Mangalwedha is known for its special cuisine of bhakri, made from jowar, and salsa made from coarsely ground green chilis, kharda/thecha and onion and chutney of groundnuts."

Is this grammatically correct, or should there be a comma after salsa? Cheesycow5 (talk) 23:02, 1 August 2020 (UTC)
 * The comma after bhakri is redundant. I would add a colon before bhakri, and would write: "Mangalwedha is known for its special cuisine of: bhakri made from jowar, and salsa made from coarsely ground green chilis - kharda/thecha - and onion as well as chutney of groundnuts." 87.70.117.161 (talk) 00:54, 2 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Thank you. Why would you change the commas to hyphens in the second part of the sentence? Also, I'm not sure if the use of two "and"s when listing the salsa ingredients is a typo. Cheesycow5 (talk) 01:00, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * As for two "and"s, yes, it sounds weird, so I suggest: "and onion as well as chutney of groundnuts".
 * As for replacing commas by hyphens, that's because of the structure of your sentence: A single comma, i.e. after jowar, is intended to split the special cuisine into two parts: (1) bhakri made from jowar, and (2) salsa made from coarsely ground green chilis - kharda/thecha - and onion as well as chutney of groundnuts. Had you added a comma after chilis as well, you would have actually split the special cuisine into three parts: (1) bhakri made from jowar, (2) salsa made from coarsely ground green chilis, and (3) kharda/thecha and onion as well as chutney of groundnuts; but that's not what is meant... 87.71.77.107 (talk) 02:37, 2 August 2020 (UTC)


 * If bakhri is always made from jowar, then the comma is mandatory. With comma left out, it means there's more than one type of bakhri, but the one referred to is the one made from jowar. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  01:47, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * So let's use a semicolon, as follows: "Mangalwedha is known for its special cuisine of: bhakri<Big>,</Big> made from jowar<Big>;</Big> and salsa<Big>,</Big> made from coarsely ground green chilis - kharda/thecha - and onion as well as chutney of groundnuts." 87.71.77.107 (talk) 02:37, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * According to the Bhakri article, it can be made from different things, so the easiest fix is to remove the first comma in the sentence. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:40, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Which gives Mangalwedha is known for its special cuisine of bhakri made from jowar, and salsa made from coarsely ground green chilis, kharda/thecha and onion and chutney of groundnuts. The first part is fine and clear; the second ambiguous (and, if it's for an article, contains a forbidden slash). What is the salsa made from? What's the chutney made from? Is the chutney an ingredient of the salsa? (Additionally, but outside the OP's initial question: the whole is a mix of English and non-English; I had to look up "jowar" to find it's sorghum. And "kharda" appears to be a township in India but nothing culinary. Again, of no consequence unless this is destined for an article.) Bazza (talk) 10:25, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * So the question should not have been "should there be a comma after salsa?" but "should there be a comma after bhakri?" – and the answer to the latter question is "no". --Lambiam 13:00, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the responses. I found this sentence on Mangalwedha and thought about fixing it, but I wasn't sure what exactly was meant. If anyone wants to fix it, go for it. Cheesycow5 (talk) 16:39, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Apart from being ambiguous, grammatically incorrect and contravening WP:SLASH, it desperately needs a reference, else it's just someone's opinion. Bazza (talk) 16:47, 2 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Can you list each food item (and its ingredients)? Your original sentence is a rather ambiguous, and I think I and several others here are interpreting it in different ways.  If you clearly list each of the distinct recipes, we should be able to work out the best way to describe them in a single sentence. Iapetus (talk) 08:14, 3 August 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't know anything about the food. I just found the Mangalwedha article and saw a sentence that needed improvement. Cheesycow5 (talk) 16:11, 3 August 2020 (UTC)