The comma earns the reputation of the most misused, abused, overused, and underused punctuation mark. This is yet another evidence of that—a blog comment found on a dating coaching website:
Why on earth does a very religious, straight woman chase after polyamorous gay men who are into (gasp) orgies?
That’s the impression I got when I first read her sentences. It took some time to parse them. Heaven help me. No wonder this lady is having such a hard time finding love!
Had she put commas on the right spots and crafted well-structured sentences, I would’ve understood her plight from the get-go. Oh, and comma splice doesn’t put spice in her love life, either. She applies commas liberally where they shouldn’t be.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not picking on her. After all, I was in unenviable lovelorn situations countless times, so I can totally feel her. But she could’ve communicated her frustration better. (She gets some brownie points for spelling, though.)
Prevent heartbreaks. Use commas judiciously.
One more thing: Love hurts, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to rewrite sentences for clarity.
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