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Q6: Using commas or not

 

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  Interesting English Grammar Questions - Archive 1, Question 6
From A B - Florida, USA
"... I feel more confused about using comma now, after reading the LSEG book. I do realize I have to read it few more times before being able to control the use of comma appropriately. For the time being I am still confused, and my question to you is: do we have to use comma according to all grammatical rules or not?"

In 1970 Mr. Erich Segal published the book "Love Story", and that represents a turning-point in North American literature. The book itself is a little sweet nothing written in short simple sentences, though it became an overnight "publishing hit". Consequently, almost any "true" editor in the publishing industry started on a new career as author. [It is very easy to write stories of the type: John loves Jane, and Jane loves John; Jane/John dies, and John/Jane is left alone; John/Jane needs to find another Jane/John fit for his/her great love.] Anyway, because they were well known in the publishing industry, the new wave of authors were immediately published, and the benefits were very good for both parties involved.

The secondary aspect was, the publishing companies were left without "true" editors. What they did was, they started employing people having little knowledge of English in general, and of grammar in particular. Further, the new generation of "editors" started promoting the "new style" of writing in English: short sentences, containing very simple ideas. Their motivation was, "the readers" know little English, therefore the books need to be "easy to read" without stressing anybody. Of course the readers know little grammar but, if we pamper them, they will never learn anything.

Today, the few existing true English editors make excellent profits working for themselves. In the same time, the great and small publishing houses still do not have good editors employed; therefore, the "telegraphic style" they impose in (North American) English literature is still in full effect. However, regardless of what the publishing industry wants and promotes today, any true literary creation (in any language) has to have a certain degree of complexity, which is way above the average. A book written in simple words/ideas is always going to be just an average, poor creation.

Another interesting aspect is the apparition of the grammar-checker software programs: all work based on "simplifying" complex sentences, expressions, and ideas. "Simple" in literature means poor literary style. As it was stated in LSEG, no computer software is ever going to master English grammar as people are able to do it. Our life, our society, our science, and the environment in which we live are such complex systems, that using "plain words", and short, "simple sentences" is not going to help anybody achieve anything.

The above (very) long introduction was needed to highlight the idea: orthographical/punctuation marks are the tools we employ to help us structure complex grammatical structures and, implicitly, to clarify advanced, important ideas. Comma is a very useful and greatly needed tool; it does not bring ANY additional complexity--on the contrary. LSEG explains the use of comma to stress emotions, or the meaning of the words, in addition to structuring grammatically complex sentences. Note that comma may be used sometimes even contrary to the existing grammatical rules. As long as a comma helps understanding/structuring the meaning, never hesitate to use one.

Give it just little study time, and then using comma in the right places is going to become an easy and obvious task.
 
 


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