Punctuation Rebel
I am kind of a grammar geek; grammar, in this case, includes punctuation. You know, all those little symbols we add to text to make it more understandable, such as commas, periods, apostrophes, and semicolons. You wouldn't think that punctuation is controversial, but it is.
Take for instance the poor Oxford comma (or serial comma). It is such a useful tool; it adds clarity, meaning, and avoids confusion. Yet, the AP manual disallows the Oxford comma, leaving it off before the final conjunction, which, to my mind, just invites confusion. For instance, if I wrote the phrase, "The US president a racist and a misogynist... " you clearly can see that it needs some punctuation to add clarity. Without the Oxford comma, the phrase would read, "The US president, a racist and a misogynist..." This could easily be misconstrued, that perhaps I was trying to describe the president with these attributes. See how confusing not using an Oxford comma could be? However, when you use the Oxford comma, the phrase reads, "The US president, a racist, and a misogynist..." It is so much more clear that you are not describing the president, but merely referring to him and his friends.
I will continue to use the Oxford comma because I am all for clarity, meaning, and avoiding confusion. This alone, however, does not earn me the "Punctuation Rebel" badge. For that we need to move onto the even lesser understood semicolon. I love the semicolon; I use it possibly even more frequently than the Oxford comma. Yet, today, I heard distressing news. Evidently, someone on Twitter has announced that the semicolon is basically dead. (Hey, we only go for high quality news and reporting on this blog, you know.)
Dead?! Not my wonderful semicolon! I will continue to use it with alacrity. For those who might have not paid attention to the semicolon, it serves a useful purpose. It connects two independent phrases (those with both a subject and a predicate) into one sentence that does not need a conjunction to join them. Usually the two phrases are related by topic. It is a subtle way of communicating connectedness between ideas. It does not hit the reader over the head but allows the reader to find the connection; it is an elegant punctuation mark.
There is nothing that says, "Punctuation Rebel" more to my mind as using dead punctuation, especially when coupled with out of favor, old-fashioned, and disdained Oxford commas. Join me in keeping these wonderful punctuation marks alive, or at least appreciating them.
Take for instance the poor Oxford comma (or serial comma). It is such a useful tool; it adds clarity, meaning, and avoids confusion. Yet, the AP manual disallows the Oxford comma, leaving it off before the final conjunction, which, to my mind, just invites confusion. For instance, if I wrote the phrase, "The US president a racist and a misogynist... " you clearly can see that it needs some punctuation to add clarity. Without the Oxford comma, the phrase would read, "The US president, a racist and a misogynist..." This could easily be misconstrued, that perhaps I was trying to describe the president with these attributes. See how confusing not using an Oxford comma could be? However, when you use the Oxford comma, the phrase reads, "The US president, a racist, and a misogynist..." It is so much more clear that you are not describing the president, but merely referring to him and his friends.
I will continue to use the Oxford comma because I am all for clarity, meaning, and avoiding confusion. This alone, however, does not earn me the "Punctuation Rebel" badge. For that we need to move onto the even lesser understood semicolon. I love the semicolon; I use it possibly even more frequently than the Oxford comma. Yet, today, I heard distressing news. Evidently, someone on Twitter has announced that the semicolon is basically dead. (Hey, we only go for high quality news and reporting on this blog, you know.)
Dead?! Not my wonderful semicolon! I will continue to use it with alacrity. For those who might have not paid attention to the semicolon, it serves a useful purpose. It connects two independent phrases (those with both a subject and a predicate) into one sentence that does not need a conjunction to join them. Usually the two phrases are related by topic. It is a subtle way of communicating connectedness between ideas. It does not hit the reader over the head but allows the reader to find the connection; it is an elegant punctuation mark.
There is nothing that says, "Punctuation Rebel" more to my mind as using dead punctuation, especially when coupled with out of favor, old-fashioned, and disdained Oxford commas. Join me in keeping these wonderful punctuation marks alive, or at least appreciating them.
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