Ok, so this is a relatively simple issue, I'd assume. I love writing, but tend to run into grammar hiccups here and there. I'm writing a short story, and there is one sentence that I'm not sure of. Read it and tell me what you think: It was the only word of advice she ever gave, and the only saying she faithfully stuck to, herself. Here is my problem. Is the comma at the end in the right place? Does it read as she's literally sticking something to herself? Or does it make sense in that she only ever made sure to follow that particular piece of advice? Let me know what you think, and please do offer advice, corrections, and/or alternatives! I'd appreciate it.
No need for the "herself" at the end. Who else would she be referring to? Adding the "herself" is redundant and unnecessary.
Agreed. I find that, in most cases, using "himself" and "herself" and the like is rarely necessary. Just serves to clutter things and cause you to run into issues like the one you're posting about.
Thank you for commenting! I'm glad you pointed that out. I tend to write what sounds better in my mind instead of writing grammatically accurate.
Thank you for throwing in your knowledge! I appreciate it, and will definitely be keeping it in mind.
"she ever gave" sounds a bit sloppy. I recommend revising it to "It was the best advice she had ever given..."
"ever gave" implies habitual action. "ever given" implies that she has given that advice in the past, but it doesn't imply habitual action in the same way. I'm not sure which one you mean? I vote for "herself".
I needed to think about this for a few days. Herself is being used as a direct object, but you've placed within the wrong subject complement. It = Sentence subject. Was = linking verb. The only advice ever gave [Herself] = subject complement # 1. And the only saying she faithfully stuck to = Subject complement# 2. If we broke you sentence down it would look like this: [Subject][Linking verb][Completment # 1][Complement # 2][fragment from # 1] I believe for this to be correct it should be written: "It was the only word of advice she ever gave herself and the only saying she faithfully stuck to."
I think that the way that "herself" is used in the sample is...slang? Vernacular? What term am I looking for? A phrasing that's commonly used but doesn't follow strict grammar rules.
Interjection. I am not sure if I would read this like that. Herself -strictly speaking- is either a reflective pronoun (like how I am suggesting) or an intensive pronoun (something that intensifies a noun.) If it is an intensive pronoun she needs to change the pronoun of 'she' into a noun. Really I am not sure if any of us can offer solid advice also we know how she intended to use 'herself.'
I read it as "the only advice she herself faithfully stuck to" - no idea what a complatment is (and Google doesn't seem too sure either) but I feel like the meaning is reasonably clear, at least to my eye.
Sorry about that, my screen keeps freezing as I type. That be an intensive pronoun; I am not sure. The commas make me think it is reflective like how I am reading it. - To be fair, the meaning of the sentence is not changing all that much.
What was complatment supposed to be? (I don't know enough about formal grammar terms to recognize it as being similar to something...)
A subject complement is a phrase or word (or in this case two phrases) that describes the subject (in this case is 'it'). It occurs when you use a linking verb (Was, is, are, etc.)
It was the only word of advice she ever gave, and the only saying she faithfully stuck to, herself. It took me many reads to figure this one out. The first clause (it was . . . she ever gave) makes sense but the rest is confusing. Ironically, I think it's the commas that are doing it. It was the only word of advice she ever gave and the only saying she faithfully stuck to herself. Then the issue will be all the phrases that are not really necessary. I don't believe in trimming a sentence down to its bones, but there's a lot here. It was the only word of advice she ever gave and the only saying she faithfully stuck to (synonym) herself. Of course it is advice she gave, if it's coming from her it has to be given, so that's implied. "Word of advice" and "advice" are about the same thing. "Faithfully stuck to" can be slimmed down to a word: kept, followed, honored, obeyed, etc. I'll just switch out a few: It was her only word of advice, the only saying she herself honored. "Herself" is in there. It's called an intensifier (well, a reflexive pronoun used as an intensifier). It's somewhat redundant, but sometimes that's the feel you want. There are many other options. Here's a few: The only advice she offered was the only advice she kept. She offered the only advice she knew, the only she followed. She gave only one word of advice, the only which she honored. She had only one word of advice; she kept only one word of advice. I kind of like the last one. It's a parallelism. But I think the first one would work for you. You could even put your "evers" back. The only advice she ever offered was the only advice she ever kept.
It was the only word of advice she ever gave, the only (one-word) saying she herself followed faithfully, in fact to the nth degree she would 'breathe' as she put it. She would breathe and preach for others to breathe in her fashion, 'breathe child' she would say, 'in and then out, there you go,' there was no doubt in her minds.
