•December 30, 2020•
By Jim Baumann
NP Guest Writer

When you’re in the mood for a little grammatical navel-gazing, it’s fun to consider how the smallest things can have a large impact.
Let’s focus today on the comma.
Commas wear many colors and can do many things. There, did I justify my anachronistic headline?

Attribution
I often admonish writers to include a second comma when putting attribution in the middle of a sentence. Without it, the sentence can change meaning.
For instance: If you stand on your head and drink a grape Nehi, Bob said, you will get stomach cramps.
This sentence is properly attributed to Bob, with commas wrapped around the attribution. Bob is describing the stomach cramps one will get as a result of drinking soda while standing on his head.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.