# Are comma splices acceptable now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171 "2014-08-09T15:32:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/21 "2014-08-10T05:11:03Z")
The future is in ellipses … invest now … they can be both period … and comma … at the same time … ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/22 "2014-08-10T10:20:19Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > Are letters to the editor \*fully \*proofread and corrected, though? I have had letters to the editor published in the Washington Post. In each case they exchanged a few emails with me showing me the edited version to confirm that it didn’t change the intended meaning and that I didn’t object. They did take a certain amount of liberty with the original even though there was nothing that was a flat-out error. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/23 "2014-08-10T14:09:52Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have had letters to the editor published in the Washington Post. In each case they exchanged a few emails with me showing me the edited version to confirm that it didn’t change the intended meaning and that I didn’t object. They did take a certain amount of liberty with the original even though there was nothing that was a flat-out error. OK, I never knew that. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/24 "2014-08-10T14:29:55Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who would write: “Intolerance shares the same characteristics as cancer; it will grow wildly when untreated.” > > Not, “Intolerance shares the same characteristics as cancer: it will grow wildly when untreated” as some posters up thread asserted. You’re right, that is a terrible sentence. First, the plural ‘characteristics’ is wrong, since only one characteristic is referenced. And if a characteristic is shared, it is redundant to say it is the same one. However, the colon is defensible. A colon is a marker that indicates “Examples follow”, and indeed, the writer here followed the colon with an example. As in “There is only one God: Allah.” I also disagree with the argument that the comma is wrong. My opening sentence (You’re right, that is a terrible sentence.) is defective by the same rule. In a technical treatise, it would require some kind of a conjunction, verbal or punctuation, but as a casual remark, anything other than a comma would rob it of impact. There are times when a point is better made with a broken rule. An argument becomes much less forceful if you have to keep distracting your listener by replacing “they” with a pedantic “he or she”. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/25 "2014-08-10T16:19:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The Harry Potter books are full of comma splices. Drove me nuts. Also many clichés and near plagiarisms. I read somewhere that the semi colon is falling out of use on the grounds that so many people do not understand it. We also have, over here, an attempt by local councils to remove possessive apostrophes from place names. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/26 "2014-08-10T16:36:13Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > You’re right, that is a terrible sentence. First, the plural ‘characteristics’ is wrong, since only one characteristic is referenced. And if a characteristic is shared, it is redundant to say it is the same one. These. > [@](#): > > However, the colon is defensible. It better be, as it’s the only correct mark. > [@](#): > > I also disagree with the argument that the comma is wrong. You should not disagree. It is an abomination in the eyes of Allah. > [@](#): > > There are times when a point is better made with a broken rule. Aha! The old, “I know the rules, therefore I can break them,” gambit. It only works if the author has demonstrated that he knows the rules, and few people today know the rules. I don’t, for instance. I take what I’ve seen and incorporate it into my writing, making up BS reasons what the rule is and why it was made. I like the usage I’ve seen in 19th-Century novels, which were written to be read aloud. There I’ve found that commas, semi-colons, colons, and periods (full stops) are sometimes used as rests are in musical notation, corresponding to quarter rest, half rest, dotted half rest, and full rest. The author was orchestrating the reading. (Note: I don’t know music, either.) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/27 "2014-08-10T16:42:50Z")
I think the U.S. government banned apostrophes in place names more than a century ago, granting an exception only for Martha’s Vineyard. It had something to do with the use of apostrophe-like symbols on maps. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/28 "2014-08-10T16:54:12Z")
Is that what happened? I cringe when I see the town name Downers Grove. Not that I know any members of the Downer family. (obvious joke skipped for once) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/29 "2014-08-10T21:44:05Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > All in all, I think it’s pretty clear the newspaper does not proofread op-ed letters. Maybe this is the policy; they publish them, warts and all. I’d have assumed this was the case at most papers. For one thing, if the letter-writer displays ignorance of language, it might be fair to question that letter-writer’s expertise on the topic under discussion. The newspaper employee choosing letters to publish might decide to leave intact such clues to the letter-writer’s intellectual talents. For another thing, it’s cheaper to have no actual editors-who-proof-and-correct on staff. (“Self-editing” is the rule in many modern workplaces, unfortunately.) > [@Acsenray](#): > > The Harry Potter books are full of comma splices. Drove me nuts. Elmore Leonard used them, too–to better effect, in my opinion. Leonard’s purpose was to show the inner thought processes of his characters. (Is it possible that Rowling admired that technique and sought to emulate it?) ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/30 "2014-08-11T01:51:56Z")
Here is a page on using semicolons: [http://http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon](http://http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon)😃 Quote: Originally Posted by CookingWithGas I have had letters to the editor published in the Washington Post. In each case they exchanged a few emails with me showing me the edited version to confirm that it didn’t change the intended meaning and that I didn’t object. They did take a certain amount of liberty with the original even though there was nothing that was a flat-out error. That was also my experience. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/31 "2014-08-11T02:21:30Z")
> [@MsKaren](#): > > Here is a page on using semicolons: [theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon)😃 Fixed your link there **MsKaren.** ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/32 "2014-08-11T03:51:28Z")
> [@rsa](#): > > Fixed your link there **MsKaren.** Thanks, rsa. I was distracted by the supermoon. Yeah, the supermoon. :o 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171/33 "2014-08-11T03:57:00Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Also many clichés and near plagiarisms. I’m not sure that “_near_ plagiarism” actually means anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-comma-splices-acceptable-now/695171.md?page=1)