Ohmyrichard: IMHO, the problem isn't so much that such phrasing is idiomatically unsound; the issue is clarity. To wit, it isn't clear...
CharlieVer: Barring experiments such as "stream of consciousness", yes, fiction is formal writing, as opposed to, say, letter writing or...
JoeMusings: The first rule relevant to using ellipses, em dashes and brackets in formal writing is: "Don't!" Here are some ways to avoid...
Using the second dictionary definition that Snap provided, the sentence could be read as "...'the government circumvented' rubberstamping the...
payelK: My advice is to use the present tense for immediacy, the past tense for distance. This may explain why prose writers prefer the...
ArielleCeleste: Traditionally, beginning a sentence with "but" has been discouraged in formal writing except in a construct such as "But...
essential life: I agree with mammamaia that removing "that rested" entirely is the way to go in that example. One of the general...
Separate names with a comma.