Monday, November 24, 2014

Are commas important?

Punctuation rules seem to be changing. I am fairly certain that this is due, in part, to texting and tweeting, where space or time are limited and "you know what I mean" is approved. I have also read that punctuation affects each line of an ebook and therefore trimming commas is "approved."

Recently I received a sample edit from an editor seeking future work. She deleted hyphens from adjectives where I am pretty sure they are supposed to be used. That's how I learned the rules.

I know language evolves. I have accepted that the comma before "and" in a set of three+ descriptors is optional. Yet there are times when my meaning could be misconstrued if I modernize and do not put in that comma before and.

This is an example from a grammar post by MM Pollard, the queen of English:
"I posted the pictures of the strippers, JFK, and Stalin."
"I posted the pictures of the strippers, JFL and Stalin."

Do you trim punctuation to keep up with "modern" rules?



4 comments:

  1. I used to know when and where to use commas 'correctly' but, as you say, the rules keeps changing. I was taught never to use a comma before a conjunction (especially 'and' and 'but') and it still grates on me when I put in that pesky comma!

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  2. The rules do change. As long as they are there for clarification, then it's fine. Some editors remove them per their publication's style.

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  3. It is confusing when the rules keep changing. And commas seem to be 'optional' more times than not. Sometimes, it's okay to use them in a different manner than the normal 'rules', but sometimes you need them for meaning as in your example.

    Our seventh grade grammar teacher wears a shirt that says:

    Commas save lives...
    Is it...Let's eat, children.
    OR
    Let's eat children.

    It always makes me smile.

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  4. I read somewhere that you use commas where your gut feeling tells you to use them. The old 'rules' have flown of the window!

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