In Praise of the Humble Comma Essay Example

neck, or how a strand of hair slips out from behind an ear, or the way a finger curls around a cup. And no one scans a letter so closely as a lover, searching for its small print, straining to hear its nuances, its gasps, its sighs and hesitations, poring over the secret messages that lie in every cadence.

The difference between ‘Jane (whom I adore)’ and ‘Jane, whom I adore,’ and the difference between them both and ‘Jane—whom I adore—‘marks all the distance between ecstasy and heartache. (Iyer, 1988) I choose this part for my quote because the words are really beautiful like a poem. The author describe the tiny differences between different using punctuations for same phrase with a metaphor, like a lover notices the small things. I think this is a perfect metaphor that a lover really can mention the tiny things rather than use behaviorist because it will lose the beautiful feeling. Next, the author provide more specific examples as Jane whom I adore. That is really hard to describe the difference between them.

In my opinion, I think the three Jane examples all mean to describe adore Jane. But using brackets has a little meaning that writer is a shy and careful for Jane, comma means writer is confident and brave, dash looks like very official. Finally, this essay briefly talks about punctuation. Every punctuation has the meaning for existing itself. It can use to keep up law and order, and becomes a kind of special signature of cultures, also can be the rhythm and show our emotion. Moreover, you can analysis the punctuation to know the writers

temper.

In my opinion, punctuation is useful indeed and shows clues between the tiny differences, but I’m not professional on this part. For the signature of culture point I really agree with the author. Sometimes we can recognize the language just by the punctuation. Spanish is the fittest example, the double punctuation. And we all know punctuation can adjust the rhythm. Overall, I totally agree with the author though I don’t get all points, his examples and explanations really can convince me.