Current bestseller, by the cash in every bookstore: "Eats shoots and leaves" a cute book about punctuation. It's like the author saw you coming, Miss V.
My English teacher also wanted a comma before "and". He also said, "When in doubt, think of the comma as a pause for a quick breath. Read the sentence aloud, slowly, and thoughtfully, and put a comma where pauses seem natural".
Oh yes, the book: A panda went into a restaurant, ordered and ate a meal, shot the waiter, and left. Interrogated, he pointed to the sentence in a big, important zoology book, describing typical panda behaviour. "The panda usually eats, shoots and leaves". Commas, out of place, can kill.
Note: all commas, and other punctuation, in the above post were inserted by aliens while I was in a coma, brought on by someone else noticing the "of/have" thing. Most people don't think it makes that big of a difference.
<Hehehe. Cackles crazily and waits for childish trap to spring>
My English teacher also wanted a comma before "and". He also said, "When in doubt, think of the comma as a pause for a quick breath. Read the sentence aloud, slowly, and thoughtfully, and put a comma where pauses seem natural".
Oh yes, the book: A panda went into a restaurant, ordered and ate a meal, shot the waiter, and left. Interrogated, he pointed to the sentence in a big, important zoology book, describing typical panda behaviour. "The panda usually eats, shoots and leaves". Commas, out of place, can kill.
Note: all commas, and other punctuation, in the above post were inserted by aliens while I was in a coma, brought on by someone else noticing the "of/have" thing. Most people don't think it makes that big of a difference.
<Hehehe. Cackles crazily and waits for childish trap to spring>
