Thursday, March 16, 2017

They should have read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" :-)

Fellow Grammarians, rejoice! Your devotion to the rules of Grammar, your delight in punctuation used properly has been vindicated! Those of us in the know don't need to be told the power of a comma, its ability to conquer kingdoms. Why, just examine this famous example:

A woman without her man is nothing.

Now, replace the commas where they were so callously removed:

A woman, without her, man is nothing.

Ah! So much better.

In today's grammar news, the mighty comma has rewarded the grammar purists. A Maine court settled a grammar debate over serial commas with a ruling on overtime pay for dairy truck drivers!  

https://qz.com/932004/the-oxford-comma-a-maine-court-settled-the-grammar-debate-over-serial-commas-with-a-ruling-on-overtime-pay-for-dairy-truck-drivers/

For further edification and a load of laughs, I recommend: "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", by Lynne Truss. My version came with a grammar repair kit in the back, a page of stickers that included apostrophes and commas for emergencies.  I immediately used one of the apostrophes to correct a wooden sign in my son's room that read: "Surfs up" Shudder! Now, if I could only climb a 20 foot ladder and correct the sign of a nearby business: "Carls Patio Furniture", my life would be complete.

Love to all! Mrs. Grammar Person

6 comments:

  1. I was a teacher for 35+ years, and every English series provided shows students how to punctuate a series, compound sentences, appositives, and more. However, I am shocked how often I have to correct adult work by adding missing or misused commas. I even had a discussion about using the "Oxford comma," which I quoted a recent article from Maine. In the article, the court found a missing comma in Maine's overtime laws were grammatically ambiguous. Therefore, five workers won their appeal and were eligible for overtime. Very interesting...

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    1. It is shocking, indeed. There was also a news article titled "The Million Dollar Comma" about a contract dispute that rode on a single comma. It's a powerful part of punctuation, lol!

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  2. I am enjoying Tea Time with Mrs. Grammar Person. Fun refresher on grammar. It is good reference book too. :)(commented on Amazon too)

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