In Praise of the Humble Comma Essay

In Praise of The Humble Comma examples, and comparisons to God, are used to get down to the audience the necessity for punctuation in the written language. The necessity can be broken down into two different needs, the first being the grammatical need, and the other being the emotional need, which will be discussed later. In the beginning of the essay Iyer compares the comma to the gods because they can both give jot and take it aside (1).The gods are said to have created the world and all of the living creatures on it, including man. As a part of mans creation we were given breath in order to live, and as part of life, it is taken away-death. Iyer then returns to his subject, the comma, which he states it be breath itself (1). The comma is the written representation of the short pauses, the quick smaller breaths, which are taken when people speak.Since the comma represents breath, it gives breath when used, and takes it away when it isnt. Such an abstract idea may seem illogica l, but it has validity. Without the comma, every compound, complex, and compound- complex reprobate would become too complicated to understand. The reader wouldnt be able to find the purpose of a written work, and therefore would lose interest. So in a way it could be said that the comma is holding the written language together, constituting why Iyer wrote his essay on it.Iyer uses several examples, both direct and indirect, to elevate illustrate the importance of the comma and to allow his audience to truly grasp just how important the comma actually is to writing. He directly compares the comma to a labor of bed (9) which can let us hear a voice break or a heart (9). A labor of love is when one does something tedious and time consuming for another because they are very important to them and they love them.Writers go through all the rules of grammar, and apply them to their work because they dish out about their audience. It is tedious work for them, but they do it because they love their readers, and want them to be able to understand the work in its fullest. This is the emotional necessity that was mentioned earlier. punctuation mark allows for the reason to care about their audience, and show the audience that they care. The comma is more than a punctuation mark it is the giver of breath the connection between author and audience.