Thread: English commas, oh my God...

Originally Posted by sperk

Originally Posted by Оля

I saw such punctuation very often on forums, but what was it: an illiteracy or just a rule of English language?

Please don't try to learn grammar by reading forums unless they're adult oriented and are discussing something of substance. The language used by young people on pop, social forums is atrocious, making one wonder at the level of literacy of the average native English speaking youth.

Don't worry, I've read forums in various foreign languages and young people worldwide abuse their mother tongue on the internet, not just English speakers.

a couple of forums

Барб и Бланш посоветовались с m-me Дуду, старик Вронди сел за пианино.Танец начался. Филенков, топая в такт ногами, следил за движениями четырех женских ног и ржал от удовольствия.

Русский и английский имеют отличные правила грамматики. Так, по английскии неправильно. Надо писать:
Барб и Бланш посоветовались с m-me Дуду и старик Вронди сел за пианино.

или

Барб и Бланш посоветовались с m-me Дуду; старик Вронди сел за пианино.

Я предлагаю банить всех Russian learners, которые пробыв на этом форуме много месяцев, так и не научились правильно писать наречия "по-русски", "по-английски" и т.д.

Sorry for the late response...

Оля, in highly prescriptive "correct" written English, all your examples are perfect; the commas are essential. Most educated writers of British English, even on an Internet forum, would use commas where you have, which means that no-one can ever tell you that your examples are wrong

There are, however, many examples of native speakers of British* English NOT using commas before a vocative, e.g. I think you are right John

Some of the other commentators have pointed out why this is a useful rule: it distinguishes I know John from I know, John.

* I don't know what happens with commas in other forms of English. In particular, American English can be surprisingly conservative about such things.

Hope this helps!

Белка

Originally Posted by belka

There are, however, many examples of native speakers of British* English NOT using commas before a vocative, e.g. I think you are right John

Well, there are also many examples of native speakers of Russian not using commas before a vocative in Russian, but this fact doesn't mean that a comma is optional there. If you don't put a comma before a vocative in Russian, it definitely is a mistake.

In particular, American English can be surprisingly conservative about such things.

It is not.