Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!decwrl!ucbvax!dewey.soe.berkeley.edu!robinson
From: robinson@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (Michael Robinson)
Newsgroups: alt.flame
Subject: Re: Theological Debates
Summary: Mr. Remedial strikes again
Keywords: Comma
Message-ID: <22421@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 7 Jan 88 00:02:57 GMT
References: <4062@uwmcsd1.UUCP> <514@gethen.UUCP> <4080@uwmcsd1.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: robinson@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (Michael Robinson)
Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley
Lines: 72

In article <4080@uwmcsd1.UUCP> markh@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Mark William Hopkins) writes:
>>>     Maybe, I ought to clarify myself, as there seem to be those who haven't
>            ^
>       This is correct usage, given my intentions.  A comma denotes a pause, it
>was a pause that was intended here.  Are you sure YOU do not need a remedial 
>course?

Wrong, again, Mister Remedial.  Is that what they're teaching you at
UW Milwaukee?  I'd always thought it was a decent school (at least they
don't advertise on matchbooks yet).  Perhaps it is just the case that you
need a remedial course in grammar, as well as punctuation.

A pause, when it is a semantic entity unto itself, is represented by an
ellipsis.

For your edification, the comma is used in English sentences for the following
purposes (none of which is to indicate a pause, but many of which are indicated
by a pause when spoken):


   - separates main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, or very
     short clauses not so joined

   - sets off an adverbial clause or long phrase which precedes or interrupts
     the main phrase
	 (FYI, it is generally accepted that a clause is more than one word)

   - separates from the rest of the sentence transitional words and phrases

   - separates contrasting and opposing expressions within a sentence

   - separates words, phrases, or clauses in a series

   - separates coordinate adjectives modifying a noun

   - separates nonrestrictive modifiers and nonrestrictive appositives from
     the rest of the sentence 

   - introduces a direct quotation, terminates a direct quotation which is
     neither a question or an exclamation, and encloses split quotations

   - separates absolute phrases, words used in direct address, and mild 
     interjections from the rest of the sentence

   - separates a tag question from the rest of the sentence

   - indicates the omission of a word or words used earlier in the sentence

   - used to avoid ambiguity between adjacent clauses

   - other miscellaneous uses, none of which is to separate a single,
     noninterjective adverb from the clause it modifies


All this information can be found in any random style book.

>You've probably been listening to proscriptivists too long ( those
>are the ones who would tell you how to live your life if they could get away
>with it.)

Please don't take this as an attempt to tell you how to live your life.
However, there are certain qualities people generally associate with being
educated, and there are certain rules people generally associate with English
grammar, and you may confuse people if you arbitrarily and unilaterally 
introduce new and creative interpretations of your own.  This is not to say
that you wouldn't be within your rights, only that the general opinion toward
you might be adversely affected.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Robinson                              USENET:  ucbvax!ernie!robinson
                                              ARPA: robinson@ernie.berkeley.edu