Why I love Commas (and Context)
a one-off thought. for some reason I ended up using a math illustration but stay with me
I know they can be controversial, but I love a comma. (I even love the oxford commas.) I will likely never stop using them.
I love nuance. I love context. This is also why I love teaching the word of God, and the life-long process of enduring with it, chewing it. Because everything you think you know today, you see in a wider lens in two years, after you’ve grown to know the Writer more, after you’ve understood the overall story and purpose of the bible. You will learn more and more that the basics are the basics for a reason, but context is soooooooo delicious. Contexts in making the basics meaningful, supernatural, and weighty.
Back to commas. Commas are cool to me because they allow you to just keep a thought going. Commas help you add more color and really express your full thought. I admire writers that do not use commas and have clear, succinct, expressions. I am not one of them. I learn from them but I’m not sure if I aspire to be them.
Here’s why commas are important.
Think about how we naturally learn things. In kindergarten they teach us that the numbers are 0, 1, 2, 3…. until infinity.
But then after maturing and playing with these numbers for some time, guess what happens? They say actually there are also negative numbers. Everything you knew is now also mirrored across the number line in the other direction. Your brain expands so much, but you kinda get it already because it’s the same thing you always knew, just backwards. Except, you can’t take the square root of a negative number. Not possible.
Of course, until a few years later when it is (laughing emoji). Like huh. There is actually a square root of -1, and its called i.
Now, the real numbers you learned as a baby, that can also be negative, are not the only numbers. Theres a bunch of imaginary ones too. And these imaginary numbers are actually a real concept and important concept even though they’re not real numbers. Imaginary numbers make MRI and CT scans, GPS, lasers and electrical circuits possible.
What an insane process. So, when we talk about numbers there’s so much more nuance for the person who is learned. Because they see how much more can actually be said about something, they will probably use more commas. This is very cool to me. If they are discerning, they will be able to know when an elaborate thought with commas is necessary. Or when it’s better to just state the basics. I’m learning that.
I also love that commas indicate that the phrase is not over. (There’s a word in there for somebody!)
This is where I have to learn more from writing buffs, because I lowkey don’t fully understand when to use a semi-colon…I’m sure that is obvious to them. I know semi-colons also do this and do it better. But until I actually know how that works, I will love commas. :)
Count how many commas I used in this writing and let me know. I have no clue, and the answer will probably scare me.