As last week’s bar scene revealed, there are three types of commas: rhetorical, syntactic and semantic.
Rhetorical commas were used to punctuate writing that was being read aloud. They signalled where to pause or when to take a breath. Prior to the 12th Century A.D., a privileged few—mainly clergy—were taught to read, and they read texts aloud to the illiterate masses. The rhetorical comma was an important device then.
Despite the shift from reading aloud to reading silently, punctuation retains a strong rhetorical function. Even when we read silently, we “hear” the words in our minds. Punctuation helps the silent reader know when to pause, and for how long. Sometimes a comma is a good choice, but it’s not always the best choice.
Spunk and Bite, editor Arthur Plotnik points out how different punctuation marks can provide just the right pause length in a sentence. Consider John F. Kennedy’s famous quote:
“And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you [pause] ask what you can do for your country.”
The comma after “And so my fellow Americans” works well because there is a brief pause between that clause and the next one. But for the next pause in the sentence, Plotnik writes, “The comma is too hurried, an em dash (—) is too abrupt, and a period creates too long a pause.” He believes the semicolon is the best choice because it calls for a longer rhetorical pause than a comma allows, and it announces that the two clauses will relate.
Rhetorical commas are still useful, but we have other options available so we can be specific about when and how long to pause. As a writer, understanding the function of different types of punctuation is important in determining when it’s best to use them. Fortunately, there are many resources available in print and on the internet to help with that.
Next Saturday watch for “Do I really need a comma here?” The grammatical gloves come off as the syntactic and semantic commas do battle.