content that comes after a comma

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Believer  #486531  Sun, 09 Mar 08 06:21 AM

Hi,

I think this might be very broad of a topic to introduce but hope you will be able to help me.

What puzzles me is the structure of the content of a word or phrase that comes after a comma which seems to give details about something before it.

John has two big hands with five fingers on each one.

Now, I think you could also write this sentence:

1. John has two big hands, one short and one long.      

2. John, tall and thin,  has two big hands. -- Obviously, I think a person could say 'tall and thin' can be wiritten fully as 'who is tall and thin' and the absence ot those words are OK -- I agree.

  But no. 1 is what makes me wonder. What is the guideline as to what form it can assume? Sure,I think  the content should elucidate or give details to the one before but are there any constraints as to how it should be written?

Sorry if my question is too broad. 

  
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Marius Hancu  #486559  Sun, 09 Mar 08 08:46 AM
There are no rules, and I think that you are trying too much to cram rules in your head, instead of reading more in order to get the real feel for the language from the literature, but:

1 is more natural than 2, which is strange, but could be used in literary contexts. 

Placing adjectives after nouns should be done only very reluctantly. 

  
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