Gregory Pittman <gregp_ky at ...> writes: ... > There are a number of typographical insertions which indeed can be overused: > ... > > 3. excessive use of commas. This is something that clearly has been a > moving target over time. If you look at books from the 18th, 19th, and > early 20th centuries, they are used in great abundance, separating any > collection of words that might be interpreted as a phrase, modifier, or > anything outside of a simple sentence structure. I think things are > coming around to the idea that you should read a comma as inserting a > short pause for the reader, so that if a pause is clearly necessary, > then probably a comma should be inserted, but if it makes just as much > sense without a pause, then omit it.
Which is in fact the reason why comma, colon and period where invented in the first place: http://www.shadycharacters.co.uk/2011/02/the-pilcrow-part-1/ This is a very interesting blog, make sure you check out other shady characters like at-sign, ampersand, interobang and octothorpe, too! :-) /Andreas
