Oh the poor comma. It gets overused so often, don't you think?
That's what we're here to talk about today, based off this "lovely" picture sent to me by my uncle:
"Welcome! To, The Christopher Walken. School, of English"
I've facepalmed a dozen times over this thing. Really. How in the world?!
True, it's not only the commas that are bad in this sign, but they're the main thing we're going to focus on. I suppose I'll have to touch on that period in there too, but it'll be in along the same lines as the comma.
Wow that was convoluted.
Down to business...
1. I know you want to use the comma as a pause. Don't.
Commas are not actually pauses. In a way they are, but they really serve a grammatical function. They separate ideas into little clumps that make it easier for our brains to digest. So separating everything by commas really only makes things more difficult to understand.
2. There are only two types of words that are bracketed by commas: proper nouns and the word "however."
What I mean by this is that "to" should never have had a comma after it. Aside from a few minor exceptions, the only time we put a comma after a single word in this way is when it's a name or "however"--and even then it should be done sparingly.
3. Never ever ever separate a simple sentence with a comma.
Like the one on the sign above. Just don't do it. It doesn't make any sense, and it makes us grammarians cringe. Complex sentences have commas. Simple sentences do not. Refer to every single sentence in this post to see what I mean.
And then there's that wretched period...
Never cut off your sentence in the middle by using a period. I don't even know what they were thinking.
The worst part is that it's a school of English. *facepalm*
[love]
{RD}
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