My mother and her grammatical errors

[Fate Flyer]

My mother e-mails me quite frequently, and it's so difficult to read her e-mails, since she constantly is putting commas in places where they don't even make sense. The sad thing is, she majored in English, and she is also a teacher. >.<

Check it out. She if you notice anything wrong in these samples from various e-mails she sent me:

You may want to start taking some of your personal items, in your
bedroom that you want to keep, back with you guys, every time you come
home-like your bike, if it fits, your stuffed animals, books, etc., so you
don't have a ton to move from here, after you both get married.

I colorized this first one, just because it's so bad!

(This one's about my brother, Jay.)

Jay and Brandon and Travis almost got attacked at Cordova Raceway last night. Jay drove my car and picked up his 2 Orion friends and drove last night, after his work, to the midnight race at Cordova Raceway. A bunch of huge drunk white tattooed gang guys were trying to pick a fight with Jay and his friends. Jay and his friends were so scared. Jay will have to tell you about it. Jay said he’s never going there again. These scary looking guys had knives and were drunk, in the parking lot wandering around, wanting to fight and do damage. Jay said the cops didn’t seem to care, or they just couldn’t control the gangs. There were even cars getting their bumpers hit in the parking lot, by some of these gang guys, and fights were all over the place last night, at Cordova Raceway, Jay told me.

I forgot to tell you Nette, that I fell last night hard on our living room ceramic tile, on some spilled water, and I’m sore today. I’m just glad that I didn’t break something. Your old mom is kind of a klutz, if you didn’t know that already.

Dad just shined up and cleaned and got the scratch out of that pretty
silver bracelet, that grandma gave you, as part of your high school
graduation gift--remember?? It was like $50, and it has your name on it.
I'll put it in your room, so you can take it back with you next week and
wear it again.

[Adrius Frostglare]

Just one thing to say...

[Guest]

The most common mistake with comma's is overusing them. Most people don't know what to do with them, so they leave them out or throw them in wherever they look good. Since leaving them out makes an obvious run-on, throwing them in everywhere makes it seem a little less noticeable. For some reason, comma's are one of the most common grammatical errors. I really don't understand it. I mess up with them sometimes, but...well...not that much

[Fate Flyer]

LOL Adrius - epic!

I think you're right about that, Silvone. I'm sure we've all accidently put commas in the wrong places or left them out where they belong from time to time, and it does seems pretty common. In my mom's case though, it just seems so common and so noticeable, that it's pretty funny.

[Lara]

Actually, aside from the fact that one or two commas aren't really necessary, that first one isn't that bad. (You know, aside from being one of the biggest eye sores I've ever seen...)

You may want to start taking some of your personal items, in your
bedroom that you want to keep, back with you guys every time you come home-like your bike, if it fits, your stuffed animals, books, etc., so you
don't have a ton to move from here after you both get married.

'In your bedroom... to keep' is in between two commas, and you can easily take it out and have the sentence still make sense, so it's alright to be there... There's some sort of grammatical term for it that I can't remember, though I used to love using it.

I just took out two of those commas in the end. You can easily put everything from 'like your bike' on in parenthesis, too, and that would make it look better.

She seems to do that in the other ones, too. Technically, it really might be the proper way to do it, even though it looks awful sometimes.

[medusaspath]

Just one thing to say...

I lol'ed for real.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Nette

...HMMMMMmmmmmm....

---

The commas aren't so bad in the subsequent quotes, but that first one is indeed totally messed up.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Bwahahahah! I remember once upon a time in the twilight of surrealism that you actually defended your mother's use of commas and grammar, and I proceeded to correct your comma usage that you made in that defense. XDDDD

I'm glad you've come to your senses. I will admit that the first instance in which you made the errors red was the worst. The last ones weren't so bad with only a couple of errors in comma usage.

[Kalaam]

It was not just the misuse of commas I noticed in your samples. There were several cases of significant run-on sentences, without comma usage, which was more annoying to me than the commas. For the most, I understand the colloquial uses of commas derives primarily (at least for me) in the desire to not write complete sentences. This usually develops because I become lazy or space becomes an issue. Furthermore, when this is used, the comma signifies that my train of thought is still proceeding on the same tracks that put it there in the first place. Thus, a period indicates a change in my mental direction. For me, it is rooted in the fact that I prefer to use text messaging over calling someone. Also, the basic understanding of grammar in this country is terrible. I might excuse your mother if she is not currently an English teacher, or perhaps specializes in poetry. Besides, not all of us are e.e. cummings, so please don't irritate me with your failed attempts posted across the web.

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