What Is Up With the Rampant Use of Comma Splices..

I don't know why it's become so common, I guess they just don't teach punctuation in school anymore.



Sorry, couldn't resist. But I think you needed a comma before the first so Actually, I notice more missing commas than the opposite these days.

People really want to use semicolons, but they are afraid to.

The more sophisticated a species we become, the more complex our sentences become, and so the greater the use of comma splices.

simples

King Neptune said:

People really want to use semicolons, but they are afraid to.

Click to expand...

Actually, you may have a point there.

Personally I sin with the --mostly due to a fear of semicolons.

maybe it's the name 'colon'.

but wholes sentences with a comma, two sentences which are completely independent--grrr!

It might be change is speech pattens--you know, "So, omg and Suze was so upset, we missed the train, and it was totally Jane's fault, the train is never early, and Gerard broke it it off with Suze--there and then!

King Neptune said:

People really want to use semicolons, but they are afraid to.

Click to expand...

I agree. I see people afraid to begin sentences with the subject sometimes as well, or tag dialogue so the reader can figure out who is speaking.

cyanideenid said:

in so many articles (blog and otherwise) on the damned internet?? Even my editor uses them in her emails.

It makes me feel like I'm going batsh*& insane so I wanted to post this so I could get some moral support.

Click to expand...

Comma splices and run-ons (not to be confused with long sentences) seem to go hand-in-hand with no capital letters beginning sentences, inconsistent and confusing internal punctuation, and misuse of end marks.

I remember being afraid of semi-colons for a long time. Made me comma splice like a fiend. Once I figured semi-colons out, I overused them because I thought they were so awesome and useful. Now I'm trying to avoid the issue and write shorter sentences.

Wordy girl problems.

Hanson said:

Actually, you may have a point there.

Personally I sin with the --mostly due to a fear of semicolons.

maybe it's the name 'colon'.

but wholes sentences with a comma, two sentences which are completely independent--grrr!

It might be change is speech pattens--you know, "So, omg and Suze was so upset, we missed the train, and it was totally Jane's fault, the train is never early, and Gerard broke it it off with Suze--there and then!

Click to expand...

Read some books written in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. You will find frequent use of multiply compounded sentences with semicolons as separated. It is perfectly valid and correct to compound independent clauses; semicolons are often the best way to connect them, but the semicolon in this sentence might as well have been a comma plus "and".

Chase said:

Comma splices and run-ons (not to be confused with long sentences) seem to go hand-in-hand with no capital letters beginning sentences, inconsistent and confusing internal punctuation, and misuse of end marks.

Click to expand...

Yes, there are people who think that good grammar is too old-fashioned for them, but without decent grammar one cannot be confident that anyone will understand what they write.

Chase said:

Comma splices and run-ons (not to be confused with long sentences) seem to go hand-in-hand with no capital letters beginning sentences, inconsistent and confusing internal punctuation, and misuse of end marks.

Click to expand...

I usually assume a person is writing their e-mail on a cell phone when I get sentences like this. It's really amusing when they leave the auto correct on and you get really strange and inappropriate words randomly inserted in sentences.

I like commas, happy little punctuations, not all gloomy and stoppy like some; they make the text dance.

Chase said:

Comma splices and run-ons (not to be confused with long sentences) seem to go hand-in-hand with no capital letters beginning sentences, inconsistent and confusing internal punctuation, and misuse of end marks.

Click to expand...

These are the signs of the end-times; the apocalypse is upon us.

King Neptune said:

Yes, there are people who think that good grammar is too old-fashioned for them, but without decent grammar one cannot be confident that anyone will understand what they write.

Click to expand...

Not to mention pronominal antecedents and agreement.

Medievalist said:

These are the signs of the end-times; the apocalypse is upon us.

Click to expand...

That's the best news I've had today.

Hanson said:

The more sophisticated a species we become, the more complex our sentences become, and so the greater the use of comma splices.

simples

Click to expand...

cyanideenid said:

I completely disagree. The more sophisticated or complex our sentences become, the more artful we should become with our use of grammar, most specifically commas and semi-colons.

I was just reading Jane Austen. Her sentences and descriptions are far more complex than many I read these days, yet her proficiency in the use of grammatical tools is far more advanced than most of the writers I currently read, including myself.

I'm not saying we all need to write like Austen. Not at all. But that's proof that complexity does not necessitate sloppiness.

Click to expand...

I probably should have put a tongue-in-cheek icon with that post.

Attempting to join two independent clauses, there is a lot of bad grammar about, is unforgivable, really.

However, the spoken word does influence the written word. I would say the increase in 'speed talk' (I blame bad cop shows)may have done some damage.

In my English composition classes, the comma splice is the most common simple punctuation error I see. I can't say I've noticed it so much in internet commentary, but I can imagine it occurs with disturbing regularity.

caw

I seldom see comma splices anywhere that matters. I expect the average non-reading internet user to use comma splices, and much worse. Before the internet came along, few of these people would be reading or writing at all, so I see it as an improvement.

Can't say I've ever found an editor who used a comma splice, though.

Hanson said:

However, the spoken word does influence the written word.

Click to expand...

I can't agree more. Except punctuation has nothing to do with listening to the spoken word and everything to do with reading the written word.

The idea that a comma is somehow "speedier" than a semicolon is pure wishful thinking on the part of those buying into the comma-equals-a-pause-or-breath crowd. I've heard they like to say a semicolon is even a longer pause (and by the same token, a deeper breath?).

'Taint so, although I do think those who write TV cop dialog are guilty of spreading the phrases such as "narrow down," as if "narrow up" were a viable option.

Hanson said:

Attempting to join two independent clauses, there is a lot of bad grammar about, is unforgivable, really.

Click to expand...

blacbird said:

In my English composition classes, the comma splice is the most common simple punctuation error I see.

Click to expand...

Yep.

But that's been true since at least the 1950s, based on data from the California Subject A exam.

Chase said:

'Taint so, although I do think those who write TV cop dialog are guilty of spreading the phrases such as "narrow down," as if "narrow up" were a viable option.

Click to expand...

Love and Gratitude will not be narrow'd down to mere family-considerations.

Click to expand...

Samuel Richardson. Clarissa. 1751

It's an idiom, and an old one.

I feel so much better for seeing this thread. The last few things I've read had me thinking I was getting trigger happy. The experiences can be summed thusly:

'You missed a comma.'

'Seriously, another one?'

'I would like to introduce you to the semi-colon.'

'JUST USE SHORTER SENTENCES.'


I am not alone!