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How do you feel about comma splices?
Topic Started: Apr 9 2011, 07:32 PM (633 Views)
pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
I was taught they are evil, I always cringe when I see them. On the other hand, they do make a little bit of sense to me, I don't know how I feel about it.

(p.s. I'm cringing reading my post!)
Sam
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
PJ! What's up man?

1) Depends on the nature of the work. If you're writing anything remotely scholarly then you sure as hell better pull them out.
2) But in my very stubborn opinion, the more "creative" the work the more flexibility you're give given, as well as responsibility. As long as there's a point to the comma splice and you're not just throwing it in there because you're trying to be cute or lazy, have at it.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Ballyhoo
Middle Aged Carp
I don't like them, but I'll sometimes use them in informal emails where using a semicolon would seem pretentious.
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AndyD
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Senior Carp
I, as it happens, get a tad miffed by postscripts in brackets.
Every morning the soul is once again as good as new, and again one offers it to one's brothers & sisters in life.

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Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
pianojerome
Apr 9 2011, 07:32 PM
I always cringe when I see them.
Ditto. I donīt like them here or there. I donīt like them anywhere.
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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apple
one of the angels
i really dislike conventional punctuation. I served as an editor for Archer Daniels Midland for about a year, proofreading and designing info brochures. I absolutely hated that job and have hated commas, and particularly comma splices ever since. People have no idea why or what they are. I really love sentences that run on and on.

I write proposals, advertising and contracts for my husband (the lawyers actually provide the contracts). My husband and I both misspell, in a British sense, words like mould and fibreglas and alot (that is my little joke on alto). I like little dots... little rows of periods. They are so musical, like rests in notation, they are intuitive as well, imitating spoken speech. A lot of dots give people time to think...... and may leave an idea dangling for further reflection. I like to be ambiguous.

That said, it irritates me when other people use the little periods.... they don't use them correctly.
Edited by apple, Apr 10 2011, 06:56 AM.
it behooves me to behold
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kenny
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apple you are an true artist. :heart:
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RosemaryTwo
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HOLY CARP!!!
I think there are worse evils than the comma splice, but I am lovin' the fact that we are discussing it.

Hi PJ.
Edited by RosemaryTwo, Apr 10 2011, 07:45 AM.
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
In general, I hate 'em. That's why they made semicolons. On the other hand, most of my writing is a hybrid between "pure" writing for reading only, and writing intended to be spoken/performed. As Aqua and Ballyhoo have already said, in more formal writing there shouldn't be any comma splices. But in more informal writing, or writing intended to be spoken, the rules bend. For example, I love semicolons; I've mentioned that here in the past. But there are times when I'll combine independent clauses with a comma as a speech directive - often, I'll want to list a series of items, and sometimes a series of independent clauses, in a way that I'll want to join them verbally in a shorter and more fluid way than a semicolon would offer. I may want to pick up the tempo and/or volume of the clauses I'm stringing together to embed a sense of excitement or urgency - sometimes, almost a breathlessness - to the point I'm trying to make, to set the emotion I'm trying to convey. In times like that, comma splices are the way to go.

But otherwise? No.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
Aqua Letifer
Apr 9 2011, 07:37 PM
PJ! What's up man?
:wave:

Not much these days. Getting married, running my own music organization, teaching 5th and 7th graders (and two 4th graders and a 6th grader), learning German and Russian, getting ready to go back to Israel for a year and then start my PhD in musicology, starting a global campaign against improper grammar.
Sam
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George K
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Finally
pianojerome
Apr 10 2011, 05:11 PM
Getting married
:excited:

Details!!!!
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
WTF is a comma splice?
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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brenda
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..............
Our PJ is getting married!!!!

We want to know more.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
apple
Apr 10 2011, 06:52 AM
That said, it irritates me when other people use the little periods.... they don't use them correctly.
Ellipses.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
pianojerome
Apr 10 2011, 05:11 PM
Not much these days. Getting married,
You do see the inconsistency there, right? The big, gaping inconsistency?? ^_^

Congrats!! You gotta spill some details because this news is pretty much out of the blue for all of us here.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
PJ, I thought I'd seen something about your impending marriage on Facebook, and I think I may have congratulated you there - but if not, congratulations! Sounds like life is good. ^_^

"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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garrett2
Junior Carp
Optimistic
Apr 10 2011, 02:41 AM
pianojerome
Apr 9 2011, 07:32 PM
I always cringe when I see them.
Ditto. I donīt like them here or there. I donīt like them anywhere.
You do not like them, so you say.
Try them. Try them, and you may!

Try them and you may, I say!



...And then, congrats to P...J.

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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Mikhailoh
Apr 10 2011, 05:13 PM
WTF is a comma splice?
No, its a website where liberal pianists meet. But that's not important right now.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
PJ, congratulations!! :party:

I've never heard the term, "comma splice." When I was in school, I think it was called an interrupter, and therefore warranted commas. The way to tell if a piece is an interrupter, is whether or not the sentence can stand on its own without the interrupter.

The boys, as you might have guessed, spent most of the summer playing baseball.

"As you might have guessed," is the interrupter. The interrupter is a wholly conventional and perfectly acceptable part of punctuation and grammar. Stylistically, it would be best to use it judiciously, but if you have a professor count against you for using it, I would question that professor's competence and knowledge.

I've never heard an interrupter called a "comma splice," though. :shrug:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
PJ's examples appears to be referencing examples where a comma is used instead of a period, but hell I didn't grow up with the term "comma splice" either. Only heard about them through doing editing work.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
It's where you have multiple completely separate sentences joined by a comma. "I came, I saw, I conquer" is a famous example. It should be: "I came, I saw, and I conquered" or "I came. I saw. I conquered." Apparently it's acceptable (whatever that means!) in some languages but not others.
Sam
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pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
Thanks for the congratulations!

She's a red-head, so Mik will approve. ;)

We met in Jerusalem last year, when I visited her Hebrew class and started talking about "Jewish classical music." She got a dual-degree in vocal performance and religion. She took me out for a 12-hour date, and we were engaged 10 weeks later. :woot:
Sam
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Nice! Very nice! :thumb:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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KlavierBauer
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HOLY CARP!!!
What a great time to pull out my favorite Oatmeal poster ever:

How to use a semicolon

*edit* AL - skip ahead to the dinosaurs to see the comment on comma-splicing. Or better, don't skip ahead, just know it's there waiting for you, and take comfort in it.
Edited by KlavierBauer, Apr 11 2011, 08:24 AM.
"I realize you want him to touch you all over and give you babies, but his handling of the PR side really did screw the pooch." - Ivory Thumper
"He said sleepily: "Don't worry mom, my dick is like hot logs in the morning." - Apple

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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
I like this one better. LOL
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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