Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregg Bell
I think the rules of grammar say it should be there. But I could be wrong. 
I am in a coma when it comes to commas. |
In any creative effort, only the creator determines the applicable rules. Many so-called rules of grammar are nothing more than one person's preferences, petrified like so much wood with the passage of time.
The best reference for such questions that I have yet located anywhere is at
http://www.grammarbook.com/ which is a great site with many examples for almost any question one might pose. Note that I have no connection at all with it -- I'm just passing along a discovery.
When it comes to punctuation, I personally follow a musician's approach and use it to phrase the flow of the text. A period means a full rest, a semi-colon is a half rest, and a comma is a quarter rest. Em and En dashes provide ties and other fractional rests. And if it sounds right to my ear when I read it aloud (or do so mentally) then it's right to me -- and the grammar police can pound sand.
I suspect my attitude is a minority viewpoint. However very few editors have mangled my efforts in the years since my first national publication in 1949...