- HubPages»
- Books, Literature, and Writing»
- Commercial & Creative Writing»
- Word Usage & Grammar
What One Little Comma Can Do
What One Little Comma Can Do!
On my way to work this morning I started thinking about the lowly, little comma.
Yep, little, but might!
It is amazing how one tiny , on a page can change a meaning, a thought, possibly a life, or even the after life, as we know it!
I remember way back when, and I will not tell you how way back, I was sitting in my journalism class. The instructor walked to the front of the classroom and wrote up on the chalk board these words … woman without her man is beast
He turned around with a big grin and said, “I want you all to punctuate this sentence, but I warn you boys, I warn you girls, how you do, will reveal a lot of who you are and the way you think.”
So … STOP right now, dear reader, before you go on. How would you punctuate this sentence? … woman without her man is beast …
There are two right answers, depending where your thinking is.
#1. Woman, without her, man is beast. ( Man is beast, without his woman.)
#2. Woman without her man, is beast. ( A woman is a beast, without her man.)
What did YOU put? Who’s the beast? Man or Woman?
******************************************************************
One day I was listening to a live, local radio station. In between songs the DJ was full of enthusiasm as he read …
“Don’t forget the picnic at our Down Town Park! There will be hamburgers and hotdogs on sale for just a dollar and FREE beer for the kids! … What??? Oh … Wait! … No … I mean … hotdogs and free beer, for the kids, pony rides!”
Oops … What a difference one little , can make!
******************************************************************
But, on a more serious note, consider the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ as he hung from the cross.
To the man on the cross beside him, Jesus said the words …
“I say to you today you will be with me in Heaven.”
It was a scribe who put in the punctuation
Did Jesus say
“I say to you, today you will be with me in Heaven.”
Or
“I say to you today, you will be with me in heaven.”
Think about it …
One says …
TODAY you will be in Heaven with me.
The other says …
I am telling you right now today, at some point, you’re going to Heaven.
God bless
