punctuation

The History of the Oxford Comma

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Oxford_Comma

There’s always been a lot of controversy surrounding the Oxford comma. Should you use it or should you leave it out? (Personally, I think you should use it. I mean, what the heck? It’s important!)

The Oxford comma appears in a list of items, right before the conjunction.

  • Here’s an example of a sentence with no Oxford comma: “I enjoy looking at pictures of my friends, Barack Obama and Michael Fassbender.” Without the Oxford comma, it sounds like Barack Obama and Michael Fassbender are two of my best friends. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
  • And here’s the same sentence with an Oxford comma: “I enjoy looking at pictures of my friends, Barack Obama, and Michael Fassbender.” Now it’s clear that I’m just a weirdo who likes looking at pictures of politicians and celebrities on the internet. Much more accurate!

But how did this punctuation mark come into existence? Who was the first person to decide we should use it? Watch the following video to learn all about the history of this controversial comma!

Horrible Apostrophes

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Horrible Plutal

I have to admit it! Some people are fussy about grammar and punctuation, and we sometimes get upset about trivial little linguistic niceties. But there is one thing you should never do. Never use an apostrophe to make a word plural. This is the kind of stuff that will result in your resume going straight into the recycling bin!

When I was looking for a taxi at the airport in Cape Town, I couldn’t possibly give my business to the company responsible for the disgusting sign in this picture.

And if you look at the picture carefully, you will see that they write “taxis” correctly once.  Illegitimate apostrophes are bad enough, but can’t they at least be consistent?

These people lost my business and my respect!

Quotation Marks

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Air_Quotes

Quotation marks have that name because they are used when you want to quote someone word for word with no changes whatsoever.

Here’s an example:

“Be at the station at exactly six thirty,” said Mary.

It would be equally correct to say:

Mary told Bill to be at the station at 6:30.

In the first sentence, the writer has chosen to use Mary’s words, and that’s why they’re in quotation marks. Grammarians call this direct speech, whether we are talking about written or spoken words.

In the second sentence, the writer is telling the reader what Mary said but summarized what Mary said in his or her own words. Grammarians call that indirect speech.

Sometimes, we use quotation marks to indicate that a word or phrase is being used inappropriately. For example, your friend, Alex, tells you she has a business. You notice that she lives with her parents and never seems to have any money. She gets up at ten; plays with her computer for a couple of hours; and then she goes out to be with her friends. One day, you send her an email inviting her to have lunch with you. She writes back telling you that she’s far too busy. In view of her habits, you find this irritating, and you reply asking her if she’s too busy with her “business.”

Those quotation marks carry lots of meaning. You use them because you are acknowledging the fact that Alex uses “business” to describe the time she spends catching up with her Facebook friends, and you really don’t believe a word of it. When speaking, people sometimes have an annoying habit of waggling their fingers in the air to create this effect!

Last night, I saw a sign that said:

TO OUR “VALUED” CUSTOMERS

Of course, I knew what the writer meant, but I smiled because I also knew that, if the quotation marks were being used correctly, it would mean that the customers weren’t valued at all.

Funnily enough, someone has created a whole blog devoted to amusing examples of unnecessary quotation marks. Check it out. It often makes me laugh.

http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/