On the other side of that spectrum, Mark Twain’s editor once sent him a handwritten page of commas because, the editor said, Twain seemed to have run out.
Hmm! I’m told that my writing is way too wordy, riddled with too much punctuation. Notably, the inveterate comma! My typical response is that I try & address a typical reader’s questions, in the context of what I write? A comma enables the reader to pause, take a breath, comprehend, & continue.
Regrettably, most people
cannot read complex sentences these days. I am contemplating rewriting dickens for the modern reader. Each sentence would be six words or fewer.
I’m surprised you get punctuation. A professor I know had finals submitted without most warranted capital letters or punctuation. At a school that’s very competitive (admissions). I died 1,000 deaths.
so, terribly, sorry doctor, unimaginable, disheartening, numbingly inane, my apologies, we, have clearly, gone, beyond, where we, truly, should not.
live, long, and edit, wisely.
When I was getting my first Masters, I would get a 30/30, but would be told to watch the Grammer and comma usage. I don't know if I will ever truly understand how to use them
Those of us of a certain age had the use of the Oxford comma drilled into us when we were young. We commonly use it to punctuate a list the final item in the list preceded by “and”. So, the farmers wife prepared his lunch which included; an apple, cheese, bread and a bottle of beer.
I, for one, don’t necessarily, if the time, place, and context is right, disagree with the appropriate, grammatically correct, and complementary use of commas, and other, perhaps underrated, punctuation marks: for example, the colon; semicolon.
I have just, written a book, about adoption, which takes a look, fairly comprehensively, at the trauma, of separation, at a young age, from the birth parent, how it impacts on the adoptee; but, also, the birth Mother.
One of my teachers sayings is burned in my brain; “A comma is not used to replace a breath in a sentence.” I always read what I wrote, in my head, to see if I’m doing that. (I’m now second guessing my use of punctuation in this skeet.)
I had a grade school teacher tell me that a comma should be used where you'd normally break for a breath. I'm 64 & still don't know where commas belong...or not.
Funny. Have you ever listened to his version of the Beatles, "Lucy in the Sky w/ Diamonds"? Shatner actually recorded an album many decades ago. There were a lot of commas in use on that record. 🤣
a grade school english teacher once wrote on an assignment "you're comma happy". and punctuated it with a smiley face composed of commas. this assessment shaped my writing for the next 40 yrs.
I mean it could be worse like if you had someone who wrote nearly exclusively in run-on sentences with zero punctuation and made it extra difficult to follow everything because they like to mash a bunch of thoughts together with the grammatical prowess of a one-eyed goldfish in a bowl of bog water.
Far better that than someone who does not use any at all and just garbles all the words together in one huge great long scramble so that you need oxygen at the end after reading it aloud
When he was interviewed a few years back on CBS Sunday Morning with his wife riding horses, he asked the interviewer "Do. I, really, ... talk. Like, that?" In his best Capt. Kirk voice. So funny.
Comments
The form is soothing and sweet
Hit hard at the end.
They change the meaning too much
Know this, to be true
cannot read complex sentences these days. I am contemplating rewriting dickens for the modern reader. Each sentence would be six words or fewer.
- Spock probably
live, long, and edit, wisely.
One has claws at the end of its paws and one has a pause at the end of its clause.
literally lol'd
"Currently reviewing, a paper that takes, the, William Shatner approach, to comma, usage"
I… conclude that…
#6'Elon
But in my head ellipsis are pauses or moments of silence.
“I don’t want to see commas scattered like chicken sh!t all over a coop”
*edit sentence carefully to avoid possible commas.
"No one is above the law",
not
"No, one is above the law"
Been happening a lot lately, if I’m honest…
I didn't use any commas though..
Far better that than someone who does not use any at all and just garbles all the words together in one huge great long scramble so that you need oxygen at the end after reading it aloud
When someone tells "Shatner" you have to over-react to whatever just happened.