CONTINUING WITH COMMAS

This Blog is building on the information from entry BLOG August, 2014.

How important are commas? In today’s age of texting a lot of punctuation is forgotten and no wonder! Fancy having punctuation on a separate keyboard that the writer has to purposely go to, to insert punctuation? In the old days as a writer wrote by hand, he or she could automatically insert punctuation as he/she was writing. 

You might say that sense is being made by not using commas on mobile ‘phones so why use commas when writing reports, letters, assignments etc?

• Commas used to make meaning clear

 Commas are used to separate words and phrases and a person who is reading a formal piece of writing will tell you that without the insertion of commas, the reader may have momentary wonderings and ask themselves, “Is that incorrectly expressed?” Well it may be the case that it just needs a comma so the reader does not have to reread the sentence to understand the meaning ... this often happens when I am marking student essays at Flinders University.

      Commas give clarity to the meaning so readers do not have to read the sentence/ phrase a second ... or third time:

Could be interpreted as...	But the writer really meant...
...how best teachers learn - best teachers learn this way  OR Emphasis on students’ well-being needs to be thoroughly examined –well being needs OR I’d hand you over to the nearest copper I could see that’d be the proper thing to do - hand you over to the nearest copper I could see... OR Grimy kids play all week long tall grass they trample about in   long tall grass OR It would have to be done quickly for once Sam advised the others everyone would know done quickly for once OR The suppliers need notice before deliveries are arranged  suppliers need to take notice OR At Vitapet we believe chicken dog treats are essential both chicken and dog treats OR	...how best,  teachers learn – this is the best way for teachers to learn (some advice) Emphasis on students’ well-being,  needs to be thoroughly examined - well-being ...needs to be examined I’d hand you over to the nearest copper,  I could see that’d be the proper thing to do -  I could see that’d be the proper thing to do Grimy kids play all week long, tall grass they trample about in  grimy kids play all week long It would have to be done quickly, for once Sam advised the others everyone would know for once Sam advised, everyone would know The suppliers need notice, before deliveries are made   suppliers are given notice At Vitapet we believe chicken, dog treats are essential  chicken treats for the dog		how best, teachers learn - the most effective way teachers learn. Emphasis on students’ well-being, needs, to be thoroughly examined’ - students’ well-being, needs to be thoroughly examined’

•  The puzzle of whether a comma is written before ‘and’.

To refresh your memories of what was written August 2014, ‘sentences are made up of clauses. A main clause expresses a complete thought; it makes sense written on its own. A subordinate clause, as its name suggests, is subordinate to the main clause in a sentence. If a subordinate clause is removed from the sentence, the sentence would still make perfect sense; the subordinate clause simply provides additional information, description.’

My automatic reaction is not to place a comma before ‘and’ at all. When I saw it written, say in American Education journals, I thought it was an American invention. Having read Mary Norris’s Between you and me I find instead that the insertion of the comma before ‘and’ is referred to as the Oxford comma, Oxford University Press ‘whose house style is to use the serial comma’ before ‘and’.  Later Mary Norris states, ‘The British ...have it both ways: they deride us Americans for our allegiance to the comma [before ‘and’] that they named and then rejected as pretentious.’

I still maintain that there is no comma before ‘and’; ‘and’ as a conjunction links clauses (main and subordinate), so the added pause (comma) between clauses is not necessary.

For example, 

In the game of tennis a player serves and he immediately runs to the net.

But as I am, at this time, reading a book by the admired Welsh author, Ken Follett (which, incidentally, is not published by Oxford University Press), I have found that he inserts a comma before ‘and’ to connect two main clauses, for example,  The French had been horrified, and Fitz had felt deeply ashamed. Another example, ‘They had been schoolboys at Eton together, and Remarc was one of Maud’s gossipy friends.’ However, Ken Follett does not insert a comma before ‘and’  when a main clause is followed by a subordinate clause, Cafes closed at eight and restaurants at nine-thirty. This is ‘food for thought’.

•  Commas are written between adjectives, if...

Commas are written between adjectives from the same category (coordinate adjectives) but commas are not written between adjectives from different categories e.g. yellow striped.

The girl wore a green, red and yellow striped shirt. Note: You do not use a comma between the final adjective and the noun it modifies. As ‘striped’ is paired with the noun, there is no comma between yellow and striped. She is a kind, generous, loving human being.                 Same applies as above