Commas

I read Ben's latest blog and found the little editor in me sputtering.

The comma is one of the finest tools in all of Punctuationdom.

Think of it: without the comma, no sentence would have any clear detail. Nations would war with one another based on a misconstrued sentence because there were no commas to separate their wishes and their intentions. 

Look, here's an example (this sentence is an example, for if there were no comma it would read "look here's an example," which in N.H.-speak means either "look where my finger is pointing," or as a term of endearment towards the example):

Grimm has been led astray by the improper use of a comma.

If, on the other hand, your beloved reporter tends to throw far too many commas into an article, the message can also be seriously misread. 

Commas are meant to represent a break in speech. A pause, as it were, of an invariable amount of time, depending on who is doing the speaking. Clint Eastwood carries a longer pause over his commas. "Who you lookin at (count to two), punk?"

Versus my friend Melissa, who speaks so fast I used to think she knew Chinese.

Too many commas means too many breaks.

"The meeting, which lasted four hours, was as much to pass, what lawmakers believed to be, the perfect budget, as it was to eat Mrs. Fritzl's sausages."

Read that and pause at every comma. Then read it with proper comma usage: "The meeting, which lasted four hours, was as much to pass what lawmakers believed to be the perfect budget as it was to eat Mrs. Fritzl's sausages."

I'm not saying that everyone has the ability to decipher the comma's proper place in a voiced quote. If that were true I would be out of a job.

However, a look into the complex and sometimes dangerous world of Punctuationdom can allow creative minds and Grammar Nazis to coexist in peace, sans annoyance.

:-D