YouTube culture has a knack for knowing absolutely nothing about everything. Historical facts are distorted, spelling is an imaginary friend and grammar is as existent as Dick Cheney’s conscience. Prowling YouTube affords the opportunity to see how the movie Idiocracy might be more of a prophecy than a low-budget comedy. Sifting through the comments section reveals a lot of grammar mistakes. These mistakes are especially pronounced when it comes to commas.
One instance of comma misuse came in a comment about Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells.” The comment reads like this: On my 21st birthday which was a long time ago I saw Mike Oldfield in concert.
Using commas to set of parenthetical statements, or aside comments, is the rule. The sentence should have read more like this: On my 21st birthday, which was a long time ago, I saw Mike Oldfield in concert.
This would have put the aside comment in between proper grammar. The writer of that sentence could have also used parenthesis as a way to stay in the graces of proper grammar, but sometimes parenthesis disrupt the flow of a sentence. Using commas instead of parenthesis is better because it does not disrupt the flow of a sentence. Commas also have shorter pauses.
I agree about youtube! The web has its own unofficial (and sometimes incomprehensible) language. It can be irritating trying to decipher web text.
ReplyDeleteYouTube hosts some of the most atrocious grammar I have ever seen! Many people feel that comments made on the internet do not merit the strict regulations that proper grammar and sentence mechanics afford. I strongly disagree. Save Facebook and other social networking sites.
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