The Mental Health Society has reported that over
43% of people who have nervous breakdowns come
from affluent families. Undoubtedly then, the other
57% come from offices. It is not the clamor, it's the
grammar. We're not permitted to dangle participles or
solder split infinitives. Prepositions are to be pushed
into the thick, never to the rear of things. When we play
mating games, it's against the rules to match a singular
subject with a plural verb. It's a mortal sin to separate
the subject from the predicate by a comma. They may
never get together again. And the person who doesn't
know a plural possessive is a person who doesn't know
where the "s" belongs.
If you cannot figure out when to use a semicolon or
colon, use a period. The semicolon is half the man the
period is and twice the man the colon is. It is used in
place of two short sentences with the same related
thought. The semicolon can stop something, but it cannot
maintain the stoppage. The colon is the stop, look,
and listen sign that tells you to stop because there's
something up ahead such as listed information. The
benefit of using the colon is 1), to save time, 2), to save
space, and 3) to delineate the facts.
The comma is the sex symbol of the punctuating
world. It is the emotion of the written sentence, the
appealing little curve that people find so hard to resist.
We get this irresistible urge to pick it up at the drop of
a voice, at a lull in the conversation, and at a change of
pace. It lies there so seductively waiting for its chance
to break up phrases, come between words, and give
expression to thoughts. Words such as therefore, nevertheless, and however gain strength from the comma. It's
sometimes perceived, always follows them faithfully,
and without the comma, these words would pale in
insignificance. And no matter how much we misuse it,
it's always there tempting us. The period is the end of
a sentence, but never, never let the sentence end with a
preposition. This is unforgivable. Something up with
which employers will positively not put.
With all its humor and irony, this is an interesting
little short course on punctuation for the millions who
manage to get through school without quite figuring it
out. Incidentally, I was just kidding about the dangling
participle and the old myth about ending a sentence
with a preposition. That went out with the one-room
schoolhouse.
Learn more about Earl Nightingale and his many
timeless books and audio programs.