Thursday, June 23, 2011

Commas: They Save Lives

Today's public service announcement:


*BEEEEEP* This has been a test of the Emergency Comma System. Had this been a real emergency, you'd have a lot of explaining to do to Grandma.

4 comments:

  1. Along those lines, it bugs me that run-on sentences and other bad grammar seem to be so common in media (and no, I don't just mean individuals online).

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  2. Gotta watch those word breaks, too. Say these two sentences out loud:
    I'm meeting my brother for lunch.
    I'm eating my brother for lunch.
    Gotta watch those ambiguous words, too. Follow up each of those two sentences with "Because I like my brother."

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  3. I got a link to your site from a friend on FaceBook. I see we are kindred spirits, except I am likely to be asleep at 4:10 AM. You might enjoy a look at my writing site, http://writing-rag.com. My daughter, Elisabeth, lives in the Chicago area and she is a writer. Or was. Now she's a full-time mom.

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  4. Thanks for the comments! Sarah, I agree, bad grammar is common in media, even professional media like news outlets. I'd blame the digital-age desire for instantaneous news leaving no time for proofreading -- except that it's been happening in print newspapers longer than the internet has been around.

    Rogers, I'll check out your site. And it was 4:10 AM Pacific Time... Blogger doesn't recognize the fact that I live in Chicago :) I hope your daughter keeps up the writing. It's easy to have no free time or energy with a little one, as I know so well.

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