"No X" rant (language)

Post Reply New Topic

- "Do you like all animals?"
- "No dogs"

See the problem leaving out the comma? Might not be the best example there is, but I don't want to jump anyone by quoting them. Leaving out the comma in a response like that gives the line the opposite meaning, it goes from saying "no" to the question to "no" to your own sentence.

Don't forget the comma in front of whatever you're addressing with a sentence either, otherwise it becomes an object instead:

"Fetch the ball, jerk!" instead of "fetch the ball jerk!"

The last sentence tells you to fetch a "ball jerk". The comma is imperative for addressing a line to someone or something.

Agreed.

and people do it here often?

I saw two examples of the first case within five minutes just now.

I just don't understand punctuation. I find all written language very confusing %)

What, you mean like:

'Let's eat Sally!'

OR

'Let's eat, Sally!'


?


Ah, the importance of commas.

Yep, the comma turns the person from an object into the target of the sentence.

Fedayakin, your post went straight over my head.

Lots of people leave out the comma. They mean to write "Let's eat, Sally" but write "Let's eat Sally" instead, which means they want to eat Sally, Sally becomes an object.

Ah.