comma splice [acceptable in fiction?]: she's a widow, has a house

[kenny4528]

Hi there, I read the following:

She's a widow, has a house just on the outskirts of town, the other end of Upper Streetham from Mallows.

Grammatically speaking, there should be a conjunction like and used before has. I assume it's acceptable in novel-style, making it read smoothly. In your opinion, If I were to write a novel, would it make the flow of reading better if I used this syntax once in a while?

 

[Copyright]

It would make it more interesting, perhaps, but it wouldn't make it smoother -- on the contrary, the comma is like a speed bump, momentarily arresting the flow of the sentence.

 

[kenny4528]

It would make it more interesting, perhaps, but it wouldn't make it smoother -- on the contrary, the comma is like a speed bump, momentarily arresting the flow of the sentence.

Thank you for your reply~

 

[mplsray]

Grammatically speaking, there should be a conjunction like and used before has. I assume it's acceptable in novel-style, making it read smoothly. In your opinion, If I were to write a novel, would it make the flow of reading better if I used this syntax once in a while?

The author is presumably imitating a nonstandard--or if otherwise standard, an idiosyncratic--style of speech.

Most readers would notice immediately that the and was missing. Its absence does not make things smooth, but, on the contrary, distracts the attention of the reader--at least for as long as it takes for him to get used to it, if such grammar continues to be used later in the work. The writer is likely aware of this.

(As an extreme example of such use of dialect, consider the speech in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Even if the reader does get used to Huck's style of speech, he faces a number of other, different dialects in the book, which Mark Twain very deliberately used for the purpose of realism.)

 

[kenny4528]

The author is presumably imitating a nonstandard--or if otherwise standard, an idiosyncratic--style of speech.

Most readers would notice immediately that the and was missing. Its absence does not make things smooth, but, on the contrary, distracts the attention of the reader--at least for as long as it takes for him to get used to it, if such grammar continues to be used later in the work. The writer is likely aware of this.

(As an extreme example of such use of dialect, consider the speech in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Even if the reader does get used to Huck's style of speech, he faces a number of other, different dialects in the book, which Mark Twain very deliberately used for the purpose of realism.)

Thank you for your contribution~