Our previous Punctuation
and Professionalism segment identified one way skilled
writers sometimes deviate from the convention that
calls for a comma before a coordinating
conjunction that connects one independent clause with
another independent clause. They omit the comma. Now, we're going to
identify another way. They include a comma even when there's not a second
independent clause. A good example comes in The Poetry Handbook by the
American poet Mary Oliver. "Language is rich, and malleable." According to the convention, a comma would be needed
only if there were an independent clause to the right of the coordinating
conjunction "and," but there's not. There's
just the word "malleable." Yet Oliver includes a comma,
and I'm glad she did. The comma adds a helpful
delay to the sentence. When you get to "and malleable," it's almost like receiving a
punchline or a surprise gift. A similar thing happens in the following sentence
from In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
describing the type of conversational partner
she's looking for as she tries to learn
to speak Italian. Lahiri writes, "I need someone with whom I can
struggle, and fail." Not conventional, but
very, very effective. Before you try something
similar, however, remember that Lahiri
has the benefit of a Pulitzer Prize and many
other awards on her resume. If she deviates
from a convention, readers are likely to assume
she did so on purpose, not out of ignorance. The same might not
be true of you, especially if you're
just starting a job or corresponding with
someone for the first time. Which is why I tell my students to play things safe initially. After they build up
some credibility, after they demonstrate that they know their way around a sentence, then they'll have much
more leeway to experiment. Even someone like the
poet e. e. cummings, who broke all kinds of
writing conventions, including not
capitalizing his name, at least knew what
those conventions were. He studied Latin and
Greek in high school, and then graduated
magna cum laude from Harvard after which he stuck around the university to earn a master's degree
in English Literature. It's tough to imagine
forging that kind of path without the ability to
meet formal expectations.