<p>you said "to keep warm" was a prep phrase and then deleted the post. stop trying to make me think iwas hallucinating, man!</p>
<p>I did what?</p>
<p>"I am hungry, because I have not eaten today, so my grammar is not up to par"</p>
<p>would be incorrect, as would</p>
<p>swimers rub frease ontheir bodies not to keep warm, as is commonly believed, but to reduce friction.</p>
<p>"I am hungry because I have not eaten today, so my grammar is not up to par"</p>
<p>would be correct as would</p>
<p>swimers rub frease ontheir bodies not to keep warm as is commonly believed, but to reduce friction.</p>
<p>ok, even if you were correct, what makes "despite a common belief" more correct than mine</p>
<p>oh, sorry man, it's still there. i missed it i missed it. I'm just getting tired.</p>
<p>Despite a common belief is not wrong (that's what you mean, right? at this point, both would be grammatically wrong according to my other post) because:</p>
<p>if you switch the order:</p>
<p>despite a common belief, swimmers rub grease not to keep warm but to reduce friction.</p>
<p>it is correct.</p>
<p>In grammar, you can switch the order of clauses separated by commas, and it is still grammatically correct.</p>
<p>my grammatical skills may be lacking, but i interpreted the "as is commonly believed" as a nonessential parenthetical statement. and i chose the "as is commonly believed" instead of the "despite a common belief" b/c of a stylistic choice. grammatically if it was a nonessential parenthetical statement, it wouldn't be wrong, and stylistically it would be the best.</p>
<p>Furthermore:</p>
<p>Swimmers rub grease ontheir bodies not to keep warm, as is commonly believed,....</p>
<p>what is commonly believed? that "Swimmers rub grease ontheir bodies not to keep warm"? or "Swimmers rub grease ontheir bodies to keep warm"?</p>
<p>you see how it is ambiguous because it is separated?</p>
<p>if you don't put in the first comma, the ambiguity is gone, becuase then you know what is commonly believed.</p>
<p>Kirby, that is true, it is a paranthetical statement.</p>
<p>However, it is a dependent paranthetical statement, if there is such a thing.</p>
<p>Despite a common belief is not dependent (by that i mean you can move it around and it'd still make sense), so it is right to put in 2 commasss</p>
<p>Alright guys, you wanna call it a day? I don't feel like arguing about grammar anymore, it makes me feel dumb.</p>
<p>At this point, I'm pretty sure neither of us will admit anything. So let's just wait 'till december. Or, go ask your english teacher, and get back to me. You'd better be honest, though.</p>
<p>kirby is right though, it is nonessential, and therefore a stylistic choice is the one you have to make</p>
<p>Also, that same ambiguity is there..the word despite doesn't change anything, using despite is like using a double negative</p>
<p>peace, man, i'm calling it quits.</p>
<p>i still think i'm right, you think you're right. just wait till december, i'll get back to you.</p>
<p>ok, get back to me...i'll be here gloating</p>
<p>haha.</p>
<p>okay, man.</p>
<p>remember to keep the debate clean</p>
<p>that was more of an exchange of insults than an intelligent conversation.</p>
<p>disappoints me, puts me in a bad mood.</p>
<p>I'M NOT DUMB!!!</p>
<p>I thought you were done posting here...maybe we should all just not talk about THAT question.</p>
<p>Wow...3 pages of arguing over one problem...vinny, care to post some?</p>
<p>Both "despite a common belief" and "as is commonly believed" are be parenthetical elements when surrounded by commas and are therefore unneeded to the meaning of the sentence. I clearly remember a comma before this element. I also picked "as is commonly believed" for stylistic reasons more so than grammatical ones. </p>
<p>Also, would it not be THE common belief?</p>
<p>I have a question relating to the reading section.</p>
<p>In the passage about the the man who doesn't like being around huge crowds of people, is it mentioned that the man thought of the proverb as one of advantages of going to the party? The reason why I ask this question is because someone here said that it was mentioned, but I don't remember reading anything like that. Could anyone verify that the passage did indeed say that?</p>
<p>Ok, sorry guys. I know we said we were done with that question, but I'd just like to point out that there is NO grammar rule that says: "parenthetical dependent clauses seperated from its main clause with two commas can be moved anywhere in the sentence (or beginning, for that matter)" So don't worry to everyone who put "as is commonly believed", because I'm positive it's correct. And also PSAT questions would never require you to rearrange a sentence in order to test its grammatical correctness. Ok done.</p>