Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Precisely. Punctuation such as commas, dashes and parentheses are the written equivalent of the pauses that occur in spoken language, and each should be used appropriately to achieve the desired effect.
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This is pretty much why my earlier post spoke of the difference between formal and informal writing. For example it is always correct to use a comma when two sentences are joined with a conjunction: "It's is my life, and I'll do what I want." However in less formal writing the use of a comma in such a situation has to do with how you want it to read (or, in this case, sung
). As the parts on each side get longer the more you should be more inclined to follow the rule, but for short sentences losing the comma often works better (most reasonable style guides seem to recommend about three or four words, but you often see longer in published works).
The same conjunction rule comes into similar difficulties when you hit sentences with inconvenient sub-clauses like this:
1) "It's my life and, whatever you say, I'll do what I want."
2) "It's my life, and whatever you say, I'll do what I want."
I've seen style guides recommend the second, but often see first in published work when that is the intended phrasing.
The issue of punctuation inside or outside quotes is also one that varies with formal vs informal. Yes, the formal British rules say the comma should go outside unless it is part of what is quoted, but in novels this doesn't happen for dialogue (a distinction I've yet to see made in style guides, but maybe I've been reading the wrong ones):
Quote:
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"Not as far as I can remember," she said.
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(From
Bulldog Drummond by Sapper, 65th edition published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, in 1943)
This style appears in both British and American texts. The comma in the above is not part of the quoted speech (if anything it should be a period), but that's not what happens in published novels.