Different Ways To Do Things
Technically this isn’t about spelling, it’s about grammar, but what do you care? The two go hand-in-hand and you can’t have one without the other, right?
Now, today’s post is a lesson about comma’s. Let’s take 2 examples of the same sentence and mess with them a bit.
1) Janet was having a really awful day and didn’t understand her cat’s behaviour. He was acting up as per usual and not doing anything he was told and to make it even worse he kept jumping up and taking a swipe at the vase which her mother had bought her which was extremely valuable. Darn that cat!
2) Janet was having a really awful day, and didn’t understand her cat’s behaviour; he was acting up as per usual. And not doing anything he was told. And to make it even worse he kept jumping up…and taking a swipe at the vase which her mother had bought her. Which was extremely valuable – darn that cat!
As you can see, it’s a piece of basic text which would work well with diesel fuel storage tank in it or whatever. The difference comes in what the comma’s / lack of commas make the reader feel and imagine.
1) The words flow easily and you don’t stop reading and thinking about it all until the end of each long sentence. There is more to memorize, and you read it quickly, wanting to get to the end.
2) This has a completely different effect. The commas and full-stops make the sentences more concise, almost like Janet is very impatient and annoyed. The ANDs at the start of the later sentences also add the feeling that Janet is getting progressively more annoyed with the cat. The last sentence beginning with Which finally states the most frustrating thing.
So, you see, a sentence can be constructed in many different ways. Why not play around and see what kind of effect works best for you?
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