Today I attended grammar refresher training put on by The Grammar Group (catchy title, huh?). As I would have predicted, I came out of the class appalled at my mutilation of the English language… only to find solace in the fact that I violate our tongue less than most others, but this is of limited comfort.
For instance, one of the many things I routinely hose up is my use of commas. I was always taught that you put a comma after each item in a list except for the last two items where you separate them with ‘and’ or ‘or’. Well, this isn’t true anymore… you use a comma after every item in the list except the very last one. Too see this in action check out my newly corrected directions for mixing the ingredients in the salsa recipe I just posted. “Add garlic, oil, vinegar, and lime juice to bowl and mix.” Before today I didn’t have a comma after vinegar.
We also learned that it was becoming “fashionable” to start sentences with conjunctions!? But you’re going to say, “We were always told never to do that!” And then I’ll tell you I was told the same thing. [did you see it?] In fact, I confessed to the nice lady who taught us that one of the most disconcerting aspects of this new doctrine was that, “…about 20 years ago someone who looked just like you told me the exact opposite!” Whatever.
My worst practice was my use of periods… the three periods together are called an ellipsis and are supposed to be used to take the place of omitted text or speech… but I use them ubiquitously as a thought connection of my typed rantings. I’m almost a dot-whore of sorts.
I feel dirty.
Web designer and developer. Loud discerner. Software engineer and 
I actually remember learning that either approach to the second to last word in a list was considered acceptable. I’ve always preferred to put commas right up to the conjunction. I didn’t know that it was considered mandatory now. English Grammar for Dummies still indicates the comma is optional.
Ellipses can not only represent intentionally left out speech or text, but for trailing off (which you’ve demonstrated) or as a pause in speech (which you also demonstrated). You may lean on them harder than most, but you’re not a flagrant violator in my opinion. I’ve seen people who seem to think that periods only come in threes.
Holy crap. I just consulted English Grammar for Dummies on ellipses and apparently if the ellipsis falls at the end of a sentence, you should use four dots. I never knew that.
The comma thing about 20 years ago was you could do either. Then about 10 years ago was that you were NOT to put a comma by the conjunction… and now we’re on the other end where the comma absolutely SHOULD be up to the conjunction. I think both the computer programming world and the legal world played a role in that change… since more commas prevent any possible ambiguity.
Yeah… if the ellipsis is at the end of a sentence you need a period, too, making it FOUR periods. And the periods, whether three or four, are supposed to be spaced. I never do that, and even if I do I think Word will “fix” it for me.
Here’s one for you. Are there supposed to be two spaces after a period when typing or just one. I always use 2 spaces. I remember learning that 2 spaces is correct, but maybe that has changed.
And for some reason I’m always using periods instead of question marks. Maybe I have an unconscious prejudice against question marks or something like that.
You just gotta love prescriptive grammar! I still think that the last-item comma before the conjunction in a list is a distraction. And people have been breaking the begin-a-sentence-with-a-conjunction rule with vigor since Winston Churchill published his history of WWII.
My vote is for one space after the period, as publishers (especially web publishers) remove the extra space anyway.