[whatwg] commas (was Web Forms 2.0 Substantive - Section 5)

[Michael Enright]

Replying to digest, errors in attributions of quotes may result

> Ian H wrote:
> Subject: Re: [whatwg] Web Forms 2.0 Substantive - Section 5
> To: fantasai <fantasai.lists at inkedblade.net>
> Cc: whatwg at whatwg.org
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.58.0407121730231.4373 at dhalsim.dreamhost.com>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> On Thu, 8 Jul 2004, fantasai wrote:
> >
> > "using the encoded data set as the standard input, and the resulting
> > standard output as an HTTP response entity (see details below)"
> >
> > Drop the comma before the 'and'; you're not supposed to use a comma when
> > linking two noun phrases.
> 
> Fair enough, fixed. I thought the comma improved readability though. When
> I read it, I pause there, as if there was a comma.
> 

Ian, since you've mentioned the pause-comma link before, I went
looking for a reference.

http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm

I remember from school that one pauses when reading commas, but I
think the reverse is not a rule at all. Humans pause because they need
to breathe, or to make the audio easier to scan. See rule 11 in the
linked text. Note that you can take all of this as opinion if you
want, I stopped googling when I found a page that agreed with my
recollection :)

Some speakers raise their voices the end of sentences where they make
assertions. That makes their assertions sound like questions. They
don't exactly mean them as questions, and they would never "mark up"
their assertions with question marks to correspond with the pitch
change.

-- Mike Enright