I was reading an article the other day on Slate (an online
magazine) where the author Malady suggests that it may be time to put the lowly
comma to rest. He points out in his article that no one uses commas in speaking
and that very few people have trouble understanding what a person is saying
whether or not they use a comma when writing.
He didn’t use any commas in his column which contained
probably 12-1500 words and I had no trouble following his comments or
illustrations. He also points out that we live in an age of tweets and instant
messages where it seems that no one uses punctuation at all. Of course I beg to
differ. Even when sending people a text message I capitalize first words and
names and proper pronouns. I also use punctuation punctiliously. I can’t help
it. That’s just the way I am wired.
Malady recognizes the place of commas in history time and
space as he notes in the opening line which I quoted above. Commas are helpful
little flecks of punctuation. The well-worn illustration of “Let’s eat Grandma”
could be understood as a Cannibal child’s suggestion (without the comma) or as
a plea from a child to his grandma if the comma is properly placed between the
“eat” and the “Grandma”.
It seems to me that context would make clear what is intended
so that while it is a useful illustration for demonstrating the value of a
comma it is not as important as the grammarian would wish us to think. The
English-speaking cannibal family will understand the suggestion one way while a
well-cultured grandmother will understand the comment without fear of being
consumed by her ragamuffin grandkids.
What does this have to do with us here in the valley?
I find myself pondering the role of rules and why we have
them. I have been following Malady’s practice in this column and know that
there are many places I should have inserted commas and I would invite any
teacher reading this to feel free to have his or her charges read it over and
red-mark it to their hearts’ delight.
I do not intend to do away with commas in future columns as
I find them useful. I like separating items in a list and clauses in a
sentence. I think they help bring unruly thinking into some sort of order. I
also have confidence that people who text and abbreviate sentences words and
phrases will still be able to write properly when they need to.
We may be able to point out all the problems head-hunters
see when reading resumes and college papers and the like. There may well be
evidence that our grasp of grammar spelling and proper punctuation may well be
atrocious and nowhere near what it was in years past but I’m not so sure.
There has always been a gulf between the standards of
English we read and write and that which we speak and use in daily discourse.
We can all benefit by taking care when putting pen to paper or finger to
keyboard and it really does pain me not to be using any commas in this
sentence. I also believe however that writing is a gift some of us enjoy and
delight in and others find as painful as a root canal sans Novocaine.
I am one who enjoys writing and word play and puns and all
of that. I am also a bigot in that I sometimes stand in judgment of those who
use poor grammar and make spelling mistakes. I don’t want to be judgmental.
What should count is a person’s character and not their
ability to diagram a sentence or put commas where they belong and don’t get me
going on the place and use of semi-colons. A comma is simply an invitation to
pause and reflect in humbleness.
