Damn, People! - or - Damn People!
The folks in charge of my internship asked me if I would be interested in doing some editing. I said that would be OK. The editor said I'd get paid for it. I replied that I would, in fact, love to do as much editing as they need.
Here is what I learned so far: people do not understand how to use commas. This is not a new lesson; I've noticed in other things that I read that my generation, myself included, has an uneasy relationship with this particular piece of punctuation. Possibly the only punctual tool more misused is the semi-colon, which is something that I really don't understand, either.
Just an observation that amuses me that I thought I'd share.
posted by Suzanne @ 1:27 PM
and I'm more than delighted to send some your way. Spread (ha ha!) the word!
20 Comments:
I, often find, that people have, problem's, with apostrophe's, which, are kind of, like comma's, but, like, upside, down.
*shudder* that is my biggest pet peeve!
Semi-colons are used where you might use a period. Your sentence, "This is not a new lesson; I've...." is a perfect example of such usage.
Colons are only used for lists. Such as: commas, periods, colons and semi-colons.
Comma usage is flexible and has changed over the years (frustrating me, since I'm an old dog). I recommend Strunk & White, for classic punctuation usage. And Eats, Shoots and Leaves for some levity.
My biggest pet peeve? Have you watched the local news lately? When did professional jornalists start using words like "Yeah" and "Uh-huh"? How about hearing the very nicely dressed, college educated anchor say, " And then the cop car ran up on it and caused the accident." Real sentence from a real broadcast, hand to God....made me spit out my dinner.
The big problem, they simply don't emphasize grammer any more. My daughter still has a hard time telling me what a comma is, let alone how to use it.
OMG, Julia, I have both those books. I'm a grammar nazi.
This is why I could never be an editor. I would have to start taking anger management classes.
I love that shit. If you like the other two books, you might also enjoy Karen Elizabeth Gordon's "The Transitive Vampire."
I find, English too hard, in general: that is why, I am learning Spanish.
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"Eats, Shoots & Leaves" is one of my all-time faves! "Woe Is I" is also fantastic.
I'm glad to see all you peeps here...my husband thinks I'm the only Grammar Nazi around! However, he always e-mails me any career-critical document to edit for him prior to sending it off to his higher-ups.
Then there's my daughter, who helps everyone else in her first-grade class with proper apostrophe placement because it drives her nuts! The Grammar Nazi lineage continues...
I am also a fan of the book "Lapsing into a Comma," bemoaning the loss of the use of formal language in new writing.
Good stuff. I am so glad that I am not a total freak when it comes to this.
I thoroughly recommend "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynn Truss. It is a fabulousy funny but succinct lesson in correct punctuation.
Here's what drives me up the wall: newscasters using the word "literally" when they mean "figuratively". This happened a lot during the Olympics. They would say things like "the crowd is literally carrying her to the finish line".
It's also because schools have pretty much given up teaching grammar-I taught English, and I only taught bits and pieces at a time.
My biggest spelling/grammar pet peeve is when people say "old-fashion" when they mean "old-fashionED"-or "They're suppose to" instead of "supposeD". Just because you don't really hear the -ed doesn't mean it's not there.
I, personally, am a big abuser of the misused comma too. I just can't help it, or can I?
Well, hmmm, I guess I'll admit it, I'm terrible with punctuation. So much so that it is a part of my blog description.
http://plainjanemom.com/about/
Suz, it must be in the genes! In school, I refer to myself as the Punctuation Police or the Grammar Guardian. The only problem is that people don't care anymore because Spell check and Grammar check do everything for you.
Proper grammar (not to mention spelling), especially comma use, has unfortunately become rather a deal-breaker for me in relationships. You just have to draw the line somewhere.
It's amazing how passionate people are about punctuation. This post might have the most comments ever received on CUSS. So exciting!
I admit that punctuation and spelling errors in blogs don't bother me at all, given the stream-of-conscious nature of blogging. Also, I am very forgiving of people whose first language is not English. This shit is tricky, and I'm impressed that people can learn the language in the first place. (Unlike my multilingual grandparents, I stink at foreign languages.) Only formal writing ridden with --s,;s,:, and misused ,s that annoys me.
I pretty much break out in hives whenever I see incorrect spelling, punctuation and/or grammar. I can't help it.
The 10 items or less signs in the grocery stores make me irate.
Would of, could of and should of send me into an apoplexy.
And you don't even want to know what the greengrocer's apostrophe does to my blood pressure.
I am very glad to know I'm not alone, however. I will be sending the blogosphere my Amazon.com bill after I order all those lovely, lovely grammar/punctuation books.
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