And what, pray tell, am I speaking about? Paragraph 4.a.1 of the GIPS(R) (Global Investment Performance Standards) 2010 edition. We find the following being the required wording:
"[Insert name of FIRM] claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) and has prepared and presented this report in compliance with the GIPS standards."
But isn't there supposed to be a comma, right after "Standards"? I..e., shouldn't it be:
"[Insert name of FIRM] claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®), and has prepared and presented this report in compliance with the GIPS standards."
The wording before the comma ("[Insert name of FIRM] claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®))") could stand alone as a sentence, right? And the second part ("has prepared and presented this report in compliance with the GIPS standards") assumes the same subject being present (i.e., "[Insert name of FIRM]"), which would make that an independent clause, which could stand alone as a sentence, yes? Therefore, a comma is in order.
But, it's not there. Can you add it? I would say "no," since your presentations are to match what's in the standards, exactly (except, of course, that instead of [Insert name of FIRM] you'd have your firm's name. Might you insert a [sic], to indicate that you know that it's wrong, but you're not going to correct it? I wouldn't object.
Thoughts? Any English majors (or minors) out there want to chime in? I know we have at least one writer reader who surely knows more about these details than I, and I'm all ears (or more correct, eyes!).
Oh, and please don't interpret this as a criticism of the standards compilation: as someone who does a lot of writing and publishing, I've definitely had more than my share of typos, and grammatical, notational, and spelling errors.
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I'm not a grammar subject matter expert by any means, but to answer the question, no, a comma shouldn't be there. A comma would be required if the conjunction were separating two independent clauses. In this case, "has prepared and presented..." is missing a subject, cannot stand on its own, and is therefore a dependent clause; the clause is dependent on the preceding clause to provide its subject. A comma would be appropriate if the statement read:
ReplyDelete[Insert name of firm] claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS), and [insert name of firm] has prepared and presented this report in compliance with the GIPS standards.
Now back to your regularly scheduled performance program!
Anony, thanks for the input. I think it does, because what follows after the point where I think it belongs can be an independent clause. But, I as well wouldn't consider myself to be a "grammar subject expert." And so, don't any read this blog? Help!!!
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