The Comma, A Misunderstood Punctuaton Mark

The Perrin-Smith Handbook of Current English, Copyright 1955, Page 388, states: "Commas mark a slight separation between ideas and grammatical units, similar to very brief pauses in speech." The handbook uses 15 pages to explain the proper use of the comma; when a comma should be used, when commas are usually optional, and when commas are not used. The handbook's best line is that, "A comma should always be used whenever necessary to prevent misreading or confusion of meaning."

The relevance of this advice about commas for today's writers might be questioned, because a handbook published over 50 years ago has the word, current, in its title. Of course, language changes slowly. 'Current' is obviously a relative term, and therefore appropo. One example of language change occurring at this time in regard to the use of commas is the tendency for writers and copy editors to diminish the use of commas, omitting them whenever they feel that meaning will not be lost for the lack of a comma. My personal preference is: when in doubt put in a comma, rather than leave it out. Others are seemingly pained to have to add a comma. Instead of putting in the punctuation, they say, "Let the reader do the work."

Lynne Truss, in her acclaimed book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, sums up the purpose of punctuation, "On the page, punctuation performs its grammatical function, but in the mind of the reader it does more than that. It tells the reader how to hum the tune." So, when you are reading along and your grasp of the writer's meaning stumbles a bit, look for a place to insert a comma, if only mentally, and see if that doesn't help you better understand what you are reading. If it does, you can mentally bonk the writer on the forehead, much like the V-8 juice commercials, and say, "You could've used a comma."