comma=because

[Herb Stahlke]

As another writer reported, some style manuals allow this sort of
punctuation.  Obviously, as we all know, the rules are flexible
and a sensitive writer uses them flexibly.  The coarse grain of
English punctuation doesn't allow us to write a lot of things we
can say, but your example shows how close we can come.

Herb

<<< dcamp911 at JUNO.COM  1/24  7:30p >>>
On Wed, 24 Jan 2001 13:11:45 -0500 Herb Stahlke
<HSTAHLKE at GW.BSU.EDU>
writes:
> This sort of error is as common as it is because English
> punctuation does not allow us to mark something that speech
marks
> very nicely.

I must admit that I do this myself. I write a column that is
deliberately
-- some would say cloyingly (in fact some HAVE said cloyingly) --
conversational. And I have always believed that if you know the
rules, in
the absence of an American Academy, you are free to break them. So
I
occasionally separate two independent clauses with a comma as a
break
weaker than a semicolon. For example: "I didn't do anything in
particular, it just happened." It is sort of the grammatical
equivalent
of a "rolling stop" at a stop sign.

D