The Grammar Grrrmudgeon demands commas!

[athelind]

Public service announcement:

"However" should always, always, always be followed by a comma.

The sole exception is when it's surrounded by quotation marks, as above.

Invariably, if you begin a sentence with an adverb, it should also be followed by a comma.

Please adjust the Internet accordingly.

(Does anyone else find themselves trying to wiki-edit non-wiki pages when they find errors like this?)

Comments

[unclekage.livejournal.com]

However you phrase it, there are always exceptions.

*runrunrun*

[eggshellhammer.livejournal.com]

Curse you, you beat me to it!

Paying the SynTax.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Hrrrrrrrm. Okay, you've got me there -- but that doesn't encompass 95% of the commaless "howevers" I see out there.

Any suggestions for a better phraseology?

Re: Paying the SynTax.

[shdragon.livejournal.com]

When the word "however" is used to mean "on the other hand", it is always* followed by a comma.

when "however" is used to mean "it does not matter how", the phrase that it begins will always* be followed by a comma.

*using the English Grammar definition of the word "always", to mean "Yeah, not really always."

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

You left out joining two sentences into one with a comma but without a conjunction, as in:

I've never cared for stroganoff, I'll eat it if there's nothing else available.

Certain ancient texts on sexual positions aside, I don't know of anybody who's turned on by -- wait for it -- comma sutures.

[tikaani.livejournal.com]

That calls for the highly misunderstood semicolon.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered why we don't call the small intestine a semicolon.

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

I'm more bothered by the misuse of apostrophes.

Apostrophe's means "Apostrophe possesses something". Apostrophes is the plural.

Also, please to be using their, they're, and there correctly? They're is a contraction. It means "They Are". There is a place. There it is. Their is a possessive. That there thing is theirs, and they're really possessive about it.

KTHXBYE.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Apostrophe Abuse has been so admirably and exhaustively covered by Bob the Angry Flower that I have nothing more to add.

[pseudomanitou.livejournal.com]

http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/yourretarded

[aeto.livejournal.com]

My pet peeve is the missing comma in sentences when someone is being addressed.

"It really is time to eat, Mark."

"It really is time to eat Mark."

Very different meanings.

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

You don't know. Maybe they WANT to eat Mark. I hear Mark is tasty.

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

Huzzah for being a Grammar Nazi! ^^ It tends to be difficult going through our beloved World Wide Web, when one is persistently bombarded by the various typing mistakes people vomit forth.

[shdragon.livejournal.com]

I have enough trouble not nitpicking my friends' AIM messages. One of them, in particular. According to him, you "ware" clothes, and other such things.

And then I go and type way too fast myself and end up with all sorts of interesting typos. So I keep my mouth shut.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

Of course, in the case of fursuits, "were" is the correct spelling.
Exit, stage left...

[rakeesh.livejournal.com]

Unless. You. Speak. Like. Every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence.

.....SENTENCE FRAGMENT!

....."SENTENCE FRAGMENT" is also a sentence fragment.

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Comma abuse pales before the menace of text-messaging "language." Of course my hate of this is probably because of my conviction that the people who type this stuff are the same ones who sit three rows behind me in the move and TALK ON THEIR CELL PHONES THROUGH THE ENTIRE MOVIE.

OMFG! ICU! How R U?

I r fine and u r an IDIOT! LEARN TO TYPE, DAMMIT!

No, officer, I never tried to shove their cell phones up their.. Honestly, it wouldn't have fit with the screen open, and.. Doctor Bates? Tephie? Little blue pill? Ahhhhh...... thanngggkkkk.... you..... (thud)

[athelind.livejournal.com]

This is for you.