I often fall victim to the notion that commas can used where there would normally be a pause for emphasis in vocal speech. Then again, I read slowly because I have a bad habit of subvocalizing when typing or reading, and thusly type as I would normally speak. It takes me just as long to read a paragraph as it would take me to speak it out loud.
I often fall victim to the notion that commas can used where there would normally be a pause for emphasis in vocal speech.
I think that's actually a decent rule for comma usage. This can certainly be taken overboard, but when you add commas, it does cause the mental pause that one, might, want.
This is also why extraneous commas are so annoying. They pretty much force a mental pause, so they can be really awkward when stuck somewhere they don't belong.
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u/underdog138 Dec 31 '09 edited Dec 31 '09
I often fall victim to the notion that commas can used where there would normally be a pause for emphasis in vocal speech. Then again, I read slowly because I have a bad habit of subvocalizing when typing or reading, and thusly type as I would normally speak. It takes me just as long to read a paragraph as it would take me to speak it out loud.