Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/John Y. Brown (1835–1904)/archive1

Dank
Comments:
 * I made some edits to the lead; feel free to revert. As I mentioned in your last FAC, please see WP:CHECKLIST.  These missing commas don't affect readability (much) and are easy to miss, so this isn't any great sin, but they're tedious for a reviewer to have to clean up. - Dank (push to talk) 00:35, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comma rules may replace WP:DASH as my least favorite style rules! j/k. I'll try to have a look later today.
 * Understood, but I just want to be clear that WP:Checklist only has one comma rule: in AmEng, and maybe in any Eng, if a comma "sets off an element" (that's how Chicago puts it) or "precedes a parenthetical word or phrase", then you need a second comma at the end of the element, word or phrase.  There are tons of comma rules of course (37 sections in Chicago), but I'll cover all the others if you can cover that one. - Dank (push to talk) 15:04, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Just a note: "re-elected" doesn't have a hyphen in most American dictionaries, but it does in non-American dictionaries. It's not a big deal and I left it alone.
 * My decision was just based on the "eye test". If there is a hard and fast rule somewhere, I'll gladly adjust.
 * There isn't in AmEng, unfortunately. My understanding is that non-AmEng consistently uses a hyphen when the two vowels are the same, but I could be wrong. - Dank (push to talk) 14:59, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Finished my copyediting. It's looking good except for the commas. - Dank (push to talk) 01:16, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Great. Thanks for your help. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 14:38, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: no progress on the commas ... in fact, no edits to the article since March 9. - Dank (push to talk) 14:39, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry about that. We've been in the middle of a bathroom remodel and last night was the first night I got to sleep in my own house in over a week! I've made a first run at addressing the comma rule mentioned in WP:Checklist; I hope I've gotten most or all of them. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 16:58, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * No problem. Just to clarify, WP:Checklist only has one comma rule, and I generally added the other commas myself.  The rule is: if you're using just one comma to "set off an element", don't do that, use two.  Everyone at MILHIST seems to be on board with including this in the checklist because it's relatively easy to get the hang of, and because it's a PITA for the copyeditor if you don't.  In these examples all the American style guides I've seen say that you need the second comma:
 * Raleigh, North Carolina,
 * July 4, 1776,
 * Bob Smith, who lives on Oak Street, voted "No". - Dank (push to talk) 17:02, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Are you saying that every time a city, state combination is mentioned, it should have a comma, period, or semicolon after it, regardless of whether there is a notable pause when speaking the sentence? Same for a full date? That would be new to me, but with some difficulty, I can learn to do that. I just never thought of the commas in those two instances as "setting off" anything. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 17:24, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes ... and even though you don't remember seeing the commas, they've generally been there ... but don't kick yourself about this, because that means the reading part of your brain is doing exactly what it's supposed to ... ignoring the things that are irrelevant to you so you can read faster and take in more. American journalists generally follow AP Stylebook (some follow the New York Times Manual of Style), and the top 3 style guides for publishers are those two and Chicago ... and all 3 say you need the second comma.  (See for instance Chicago 6.17 ("Commas in pairs"), 6.45 and 10.30; The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, at "comma" (the last two paragraphs); and AP Stylebook, at "months" and in the punctuation section.) - Dank (push to talk) 19:20, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, you learn something every day, I guess. I've made another pass and tried to catch these as well. Hopefully, I got them all. Acdixon (talk • contribs • count) 21:03, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Support per standard disclaimer. Looks good. - Dank (push to talk) 21:22, 23 March 2011 (UTC)