On Speaking English in India

Indiaspeak - Times of India

In Praise of the Humble Comma

As someone who is rather "comma friendly", I quite love this little punctuation mark: softer than the full-stop, less ambiguous than the semicolon. A pause for breath, but without the period's finality. Suspensive pauses, commas at the end of run-on-lines, dramatic pauses...

Commas can change meaning, shift mountains...

O Romeo Romeo v/s O Romeo, Romeo - Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
Jesus he was a handsome man v/s Jesus, he was a handsome man - Cummings, Buffalo Bill

Was Juliet merely proclaiming her love for "Romeo Romeo"? Or was it "Romeo, Romeo" the comma expressing a realisation of who Romeo is dawning upon Juliet, a pause that expresses it all?

Is "Jesus" Cummings's "OMG"-like exclamation, or is the poet reflecting on "Jesus" who was "a handsome man"?

And so I give you the article: "In Praise of the Humble Comma".

Must. Have. Cake.

You know those days when you could just kill for some chocolate cake?

God, I want chocolate cake!!

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