EDITORIAL: "7 Grammar Rules You Should Really Pay Attention To"

[achacunsagloire]

I don't normally like the “x-number-of-things-that-you're-doing-wrong” articles that make up the side links of many a gossip site, but there's a certain charm in Ben Yagoda's 2013 “7 Grammar Rules You Should Really Pay Attention To.” In this article (which he wrote for TheWeek.Com), Yagoda uses a gentle but firm-not to mention cheeky-voice to

Comments

[40yearslater]

7 Grammar Rules to Which You Should Really Pay Attention

[achacunsagloire]

I thought about that while writing the entry. xD

[40yearslater]

Even though no one really talks that way. :)

[achacunsagloire]

I've tried talking that way. It's incredibly hard when you've said "that" + (ending preposition) all of your life. xD

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[achacunsagloire]

Whoo, party-time!

[vaysh]

Thanks for the link and your fascinating post.

I am always intrigued by the no-go for the comma splice in English. In German (and as far as I know, in French), the comma splice is the rule: In German the correct usage is to put a comma between two complete sentences. The semicolon between two complete sentences is used to emphasise the distinctness of the two sentences; the distinction is weaker than with a full stop, but stronger than with a comma.

[starduchess]

Vaysh, I think you are confusing the comma splice, which is where a comma is placed where it absolutely should not go (like between a subject and its verb), and just overusage of commas. In English, you would put a comma between two complete sentences, but you also need a transition word: and, but, yet, or, nor. The semi-colon replaces the comma and transition word. You are correct in thinking that the semi-colon helps to emphasise the two sentences more than the comma/transition word version.

Example:
Joe brought the water cup to Marcy, but she swatted it away. -- shows two actions, one after the other
Joe brought the water cup to Marcy; she swatted it away. -- shows same actions in sequence, but more distinct.
Joe brought the water cup to Marcy. She swatted it away. -- shows both actions, but more independent from each other.

All three are properly formatted, but they give slightly different connotations when read.

A true comma splice would look like this:
Joe, brought the water cup, to Marcy, she swatted it away.

Does that

[vaysh]

Here is the definition of comma splice from Wikipedia: "A comma splice is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses." This is how I understand it. Is that not correct?

[starduchess]

Okay, I went and looked and yes, the splice is a comma used in between two independent clauses without using the conjunction words. Everything else wrong is just comma misuse. Sorry I was wrong about that. (I could have sworn I'd read it the other way around somewhere, but I can't find that right now.)

In my "true comma splice" example, then, the first and second commas are just wrong and the third one is the splice.

So in German, you don't need a conjunction word with the comma?

GRAMMAR: Bad Parallelism?

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User vaysh referenced to your post from GRAMMAR: Bad Parallelism? saying: [...] has a great post on important grammer rules [...]