Moderator:JackFrost
Woods wrote:Yeah, I think I actually said something like "don't do it like in your own language but use your feeling"
linguoboy wrote:A lot of folks seem to be under the misapprehension that commas indicate the places where you would pause while saying the sentence aloud.
Woods wrote:Oh, I think I'm there too. I prefer to use commas to make my sentence sound right rather than to follow rules.
Woods wrote:Again, English does better than some other languages, which "require" to place commas automatically according to grammar rules.
Woods wrote:For example, surrounding subordinate clauses:
I think, that you are right. (This would be the "required" usage of commas in Bulgarian, and, I think, German. But it doesn't make any sense to me.)
linguoboy wrote:Woods wrote:Oh, I think I'm there too. I prefer to use commas to make my sentence sound right rather than to follow rules.
You're still following rules, they're just rules of your own formulation.
linguoboy wrote:Woods wrote:Again, English does better than some other languages, which "require" to place commas automatically according to grammar rules.
This is really an awkward sentence. I tried to correct it and realised that I'd be more comfortable reformulating it entirely, e.g. "which place commas strictly according to grammatical rules".
linguoboy wrote:I really don't understand the scare quotes around "require".
linguoboy wrote:Woods wrote:For example, surrounding subordinate clauses:
I think, that you are right. (This would be the "required" usage of commas in Bulgarian, and, I think, German. But it doesn't make any sense to me.)
This is the rule in German. It's the number one comma usage error I see from German-speakers in English.
Woods wrote:What I meant is that there is the idea of "requirement," at least this is how it feels for those Bulgarians that just think they should place commas according to rules without even thinking what the idea of a comma is in the first place.
Woods wrote:linguoboy wrote:I really don't understand the scare quotes around "require".
I meant to express that there is this idea in some people's heads that things like commas are required, but I wanted to dissociate myself from it, therefore I put the quotes.
Woods wrote:How do you feel the other way around? Would you hesitate to omit the comma in German if you don't feel like it?
Woods wrote:I think languages are generally going in this direction - getting rid of unnecessary commas and using them to help the writer's flow of thought, and meaning come through.
At least I think it is happening with Finnish, but I'm not sure - maybe a Finnish speaker can confirm.
(By the way I put a comma there because I wanted to make sure this is not understood as "the writer's flow of thought and the writer's meaning" but as "the writer's flow of thought and the meaning." I know it looks totally out of place and I probably wouldn't normally use it here but sometimes I do things like that.
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