Several months ago, a columnist for our magazine submitted a manuscript containing the following sentence:

"And according to both Kelly, the BSA, and recent news reports, the money you spend on pirated software goes to support other more violent crimes."

Tomorrow, we'll deal with the issue of how many objects the word "both" can refer to. First, however, we note that the author's omission of a comma after "other" in the example sentence alters the meaning from "other crimes that are more violent than this one" (which she intended) to "other crimes that--like the unauthorized duplication and sale of software--are more violent than some unstated benchmark crime." Here's the distinction, properly observed:

RIGHT: "People who litter are likelier to commit murders and other more violent crimes." [i.e., more violent than littering, not more violent than murder]

RIGHT: "People who litter are likelier to spray-paint graffiti on walls and commit other, more violent crimes." [i.e., other crimes that are more violent than spray-painting graffiti]