Comma before the prepositional phrase

[qianruS779]

Hi Instructors,

I want to understand the following sentence:

standard business transaction are being handled via computer, in place of on paper.

The appearance of comma between via computer and in place of on paper leads to a wrong comparison between standard business transaction and on paper; If I get rid of the comma, the sentence will correctly express the comparison between computer and on paper. Alright?

Thank you very much for your correction.

Best regards.

[RonPurewal]

per the forum rules, please provide the original source of this sentence. (this is obviously not a sentence that you made up yourself, so we need to know where you got it.)

thank you.

[RonPurewal]

also, even more importantly, the gmat NEVER tests the presence/absence of punctuation.

that's 'never' as in ... never.
ALL questions of "should(n't) I put a comma here?" are irrelevant to this exam.

[qianruS779]

Hi Ron,

I change a little bit the sentence:

1) X is Y, instead of Z
2) X is Y instead of Z

I know the punctuation is not the content in the GMAT exam, but punctuation helps us to understand the intended meaning of the writers. Therefore, in 1) X compares with Z while in 2) Y compares with Z, alright?

Thank you very much for helping me to understand it.

Best

[tim]

Please pay attention to what Ron wrote. You're focusing on something that won't be of any use to you in studying for the GMAT.

[RonPurewal]

I know the punctuation is not the content in the GMAT exam, but

^^ i like this... "i know X doesn't matter, but... let me ask you about X."
(:

in any case...
you should ALWAYS be able to discern intended meaning
• easily,
• purely by common sense,
and
• without thinking about grammar.

if you think you will actually have to think about the niceties of punctuation TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE AUTHOR IS TRYING TO TELL YOU... well, you should really not be thinking that.

[RonPurewal]

also—if you're tested on this at all, the issue will probably be placement.

IF THE AUTHOR'S CLEAR INTENT is to say that 'X' is a replacement for 'Z', then...
X is Y(,) instead of Z --> bad.
X, instead of Z, is Y --> good. here the modifier is actually next to the thing it's talking about.

...and, since this is a multiple-choice test, this will be an incredibly easy decision if you're ever faced with it.
i.e., you will never have to decide where to put a modifier. you won't have to do anything beyond distinguishing between 'close to the target' and 'farther from the target'.

[qianruS779]

Hi Ron,

Thank you very much for your always nice explanation.

Best regards.

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.