If I love him when I die, he will take me home on high.Ī three-word shift in the comma makes an enormous soteriological difference! The entire doctrine of assurance is at stake in the correct placement of the punctuation mark. Here’s how it shouldn’t be written (and understood): If it means 'it is hoped' or 'I hope' then is the entire main subject and predicate of the sentence subsumed into the word hopefully A related question is, if I use a comma, how does that change the sentence grammatically and. When sung to the traditional tune the rhythm of the melody is somewhat misleading, because the punctuation here is quite crucial. Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by any of these seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet. 2 : it is hoped : I hope : we hope : hopefully the rain will end soon. If I love him, when I die he will take me home on high. Jesus loves me, he will stay close beside me all the way At church last Sunday evening we sang the old hymn “Jesus Loves Me” from the Trinity Hymnal. To think that the integrity of the atonement depended on a punctuation point!Ī misplaced comma can do just as much theological damage as a missing one. In the King James Version of the Bible, Luke 23:32 is translated as follows:Īnd there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.īut in some early printings, so I’m told, the first of the two commas was inadvertently omitted:Īnd there were also two other malefactors, led with him to be put to death. Not only can a missing comma lead to familial strife, it can also screw up your theology. “Mary had black hair that was so like her father, John’s.If anyone tells you that careful punctuation doesn’t matter, just ask them whether it’s important to discern the difference between “Let’s eat, grandpa!” and “Let’s eat grandpa!” Hopefully they’ll see the point - so to speak. Needless to say, I'm thrilled it's Freakin' Friday!Īs a person is (normally) expected to have just one father (or mother), we would write If the person has written more than one book, omit the comma. Meaning of hopefully in English hopefully adverb uk / hp.f l.i / us / hop.f l. If the person has written only one book, use the comma. So is there a comma after "there" in this dialog: Rules say not to separate subject and verb with comma. I can't seem to find the answer to my question. would you say it needs the comma then? As opposed to 'Ouch,’ Liza said sympathetically. If the order is reversed, such as 'Ouch,’ said Liza, sympathetically. RE: comma between dialogue tag and -ly adverbs Lucy said, "I refuse to tell him how moody and miserable you are, still." The San Francisco, California, man will answer to some heavy-duty charges next week.īut if the state is used as a possessive in conjunction with the city before it, do we include or omit the c She stepped into a hallway that was painted deep red with dim lighting to guide her steps.Īlbeit it an awkward sentence, we would place a comma after the state in the city/state combo below: In the following sentence, I'm wondering if people feel this could be misread, and if so, if a comma after "red" would be acceptable/helpful: The other man was tall, with red hair and a Massachusetts accent. In other words, are there a few commas whose use is optional? (I'm not talking of the serial comma the auth But now, as a working writer, I have come to appreciate the importance of correctly structured sentences and proper grammar usage. Let’s simply say, my grammar wasn’t the best after elementary school. Minimalist comma style in a serious nonfiction bookĬould someone provide me with a few cases of commas that are unnecessary-that are pedantically correct, but could be dispensed with to make the text more readable, and yet, not incorrect? Perhaps you remember grammar class as much as I do and hopefully more fondly. When I see it with the comma, I interpret it as "I'm not going to the meeting in addition to not going to something else." When I see it without the comma, I interpret it as "I'm not going to the meeting just like you're not going to the me It's not essential, but it depends on the meaning intended.
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