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Latest news on comma in Times of India

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by PushpavalliSrinivasan, Feb 19, 2014.

  1. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    News courtesy- Times of India

    LONDON: Death of the comma? One of the most commonly used elements of written English - the humble
    comma - could be abolished as a punctuation mark without doing much damage to the language, a US academic has suggested.

    Professor John McWhorter, an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, believes that removing commas from most modern US texts would cause little loss of clarity.

    McWhorter said that as Internet users and even some writers become increasingly idiosyncratic - if not indifferent - in their use of the punctuation mark, it may have outstayed its welcome, 'The Times' reported.

    What is your take on this?

    I strongly believe that comma definitely has a purpose in punctuation.

    Just see the difference a statement could mean without comma.

    Punish him not pardon him.
    Punish him not, pardon him
    Punish him, not pardon him.

    You can clearly see the difference what the statement tries to say with comma and without comma.

    As it is the English language is torn and bruised due to internet and SMS.
     
    11 people like this.
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  2. Srama

    Srama Finest Post Winner

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    Dear PS ma'm,

    my heart sank when I read this piece of news earlier! Not that I am very good at using this comma efficiently but have been able to understand what's being told better and hopefully conveyed what I meant to say better too. That said, I had shared this tidbit in English matters that I had seen on a t-shirt which read like this

    Let's eat, grandma!
    Let's eat grandma!

    ------------------
    Commas save lives!

    time for more of those t-shirts is all I can say!
     
    7 people like this.
  3. Kamla

    Kamla IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear PS mam,

    i dont know know who comes up with such thoughts! Of all things to abolish comma would be preposterous! I can do without a colon or even a semi-colon if need be, but a comma is a must!

    L, Kamla
     
    1 person likes this.
  4. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Mrs. Srinivasan:

    I am all for comma as long as it is used for punctuation and only for punctuation and not for sentence structuring. Many times people use it for giving multiple thoughts in one sentence making the reader struggle to understand what is being communicated. Wherever possible, the sentences should be made simple. The Law Makers and Attorneys have the habit of starting a sentence with "Notwithstanding" and build it further that is very difficult to comprehend.

    Example: Notwithstanding anything contained in Section __ of the Act, the exemptions will not be applicable in case of a, b and c, with an exception of d.

    Viswa
     
    1 person likes this.
  5. GaythriV

    GaythriV Platinum IL'ite

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    Nice sharing mam. Comma, colon, semi-colon all are must.

    1. A woman, without her man, is nothing.

    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

    2. A panda eats, shoots and leaves.

    A panda eats shoots and leaves.

    Sources - Yahoo answers.
     
    1 person likes this.
  6. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear PS
    I am always accused of writing very long sentences which never seem to end and by the time people come to the end, they forget where I started as a result of which they have to go back to the beginning and start all over again. Long long ago, so long ago that nobody can say how long ago, I had my first girl friend who was extremely superstitious. My first love letter to her had a lot of full stops because I really loved short sentences. She immediately wrote back in her first love letter (to me that is) that full stops always meant the end and in a love letter, it meant a complete stoppage sooner or later. She told me that love letters should be full of commas so that the relationship could continue forever and ever. Obviously my full stops were stronger than all her commas and in good time we parted company. She may have gone out of my life but her sentiment has stayed with me and my sentences started getting longer and longer like the tail of Lord Anjaneya!

    Soon after my marriage I had to go on a tour for a while and I wrote my first letter to my wife. Remembering the sentimental warning of my first girl friend, my two page letter had only two sentences each covering a full page! There were liberal sprinkling of commas and hardly any full stop. My wife wrote back saying she could not make head or tail of my letter and could not even make out where it started and where it ended! She suggested that I undergo a course in communication!

    Commas are the backbone of Queen's English. Picturesque sentences can hardly survive without them. It is common knowledge that the Americans treat Queen's English with great contempt and want to kill it once and for all. Let us not fall a prey to it.
    Sri
     
    6 people like this.
  7. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Sabitha,
    Thanks for joining me in posting your viewpoint on the learned professor's thought of abolishing comma. I feel comma has an important role to play in punctuation.
    Yes, Your example sentence proves that comma saves lives!
    Ps
     
  8. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Kamla,
    When I read the news I found it ridiculous. At least colon and semicolon could be replaced by a dash or a conjunction wherever possible.
    Thanks for dropping in and posting your opinion,
    PS
     
  9. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Viswa,
    Happy to receive your fb and you are right about comma used in sentence structuring which at times really makes our head rotate in circles to grasp the meaning. We have to read several times to understand the statement just like we struggle to place a complaint over phone or to get information, we are told to press number of buttons.

    PS
     
  10. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Gaythri,
    Thanks for dropping in and sharing your thoughts on the punctuation marks sans there will be chaos all around to understand what message a person want to convey.
    PS
     
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