Commas, Apostrophes, and Colons: Oh My! (was: Info for FF moderators and writers)

[Petra]

Barb, in part:
> 3) Commas are very, very important

I agree.  While writing ambiguously can certainly 
be a part of a writer's style, I'm not sure one 
can subvert for effect what one haven't already 
mastered; shouldn't that be considered a slip of 
the keyboard?  <g>  What is the difference between 
a pun and a malapropism?  Intent.

After all, if the intention is to clearly convey 
a panda's diet, writing thus evokes the wrong 
image in the mind of the reader:

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, 
native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

But if it is one's intention to evoke a scene 
of a panda that eats its dinner, shoots its 
gun then leaves before the waiter can hand it 
the check, then that extra comma after "eats" 
*does* serve a purpose.

With apologies to Lynne Truss,

Petra
a
n  :)



See: 

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20041230/
en_bo_usatoday/anepilogueforayearwecouldntputdown 

and just for Dave:

http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk and 
http://www.fun-with-words.com/boston_apostrophes.html



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com