The English teacher beginning his lesson with "So." reminded me of this piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/22iht-currents.html
(SO this is about the word “so.”)
Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
21–30 of 162 posts
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#22I was never taught about the Oxford Comma (I'm not a native speaker), but trained myself to use it consistently after seeing this http://jaced.com/blogpix/2013/washingtonlincolnoxford.jpg . This has made me rethink though - he makes a great point that writing is about transferring the voices in my head into the readers', so I'll keep that in mind for any creative writing. Heck, not just creative writing, I can think…
Consider though:
To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God [1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_comma#Creating_ambiguity
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#23> Momentum, syncopation, rhythm and pattern make a sentence flow, because writers are trying to transfer the voices in their heads into yours.
Had to read this several times because the horrible punctuation made the sentence unreadable without thinking.
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#24Stopped reading after footnote 2.
Almost missed being able to read that because I couldn't see them due to having JavaScript off.
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#25I was never taught about the Oxford Comma (I'm not a native speaker), but trained myself to use it consistently after seeing this http://jaced.com/blogpix/2013/washingtonlincolnoxford.jpg . This has made me rethink though - he makes a great point that writing is about transferring the voices in my head into the readers', so I'll keep that in mind for any creative writing. Heck, not just creative writing, I can think…
Consider though: To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God [1] Is the writer's mother Ayn Rand? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_comma#Creating_ambiguity
To my mother Ayn Rand, and to God
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#26Punctuation is about rhythm. Writing is about communication. And I start sentences with "and" all the time.
I hardly know my grammar rules and I don't care. But I do care about making sure that writing is clear.
That's the basic rule I've applied to the hundreds of books that I've edited. Oxford comma. Huh?
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#27Half the time when I hear Barack Obama speak, I imagine his speechwriter typing out
", and this nation cannot afford thatSo I have been..."
For every damn sentence.
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#28I was never taught about the Oxford Comma (I'm not a native speaker), but trained myself to use it consistently after seeing this http://jaced.com/blogpix/2013/washingtonlincolnoxford.jpg . This has made me rethink though - he makes a great point that writing is about transferring the voices in my head into the readers', so I'll keep that in mind for any creative writing. Heck, not just creative writing, I can think…
Yep, here's another fun illustration of the same issue with omitting the Oxford Comma:
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#29I was never taught about the Oxford Comma (I'm not a native speaker), but trained myself to use it consistently after seeing this http://jaced.com/blogpix/2013/washingtonlincolnoxford.jpg . This has made me rethink though - he makes a great point that writing is about transferring the voices in my head into the readers', so I'll keep that in mind for any creative writing. Heck, not just creative writing, I can think…
Consider though: To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God [1] Is the writer's mother Ayn Rand? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_comma#Creating_ambiguity
For clarity in this case, you would distribute the "to" if the writer's mother is indeed Ayn Rand:
To my mother, Ayn Rand, and to God
EDIT: My sibling post has another good alternative.
Re: Nobody. Understands. Punctuation.
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider though: To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God [1] Is the writer's mother Ayn Rand? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_comma#Creating_ambiguity
To my mother Ayn Rand, and to God Not the same wording, but that's how I would write it, given the freedom.
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