Are You a Comma?

If you want to be seen as a great communicatar my Grammar Granny wants to know "Are You a Comma?"

You've probably seen comedian Victor Borge do his classic Phonetic Punctuation routine that had audiences helpless with laughter. Borge created comical sounds to indicate the commas, apostrophes, periods, and question marks in what he was saying.

You can ignore this dubious aid to understanding when you speak, but it helps in writing to use the right punctuation. Millions of dollars have hung in the balance over the presence or absence of a comma in a contract or will. Can you spot the difference that a comma makes in these two written sentences?

You agree to pay travel costs for my partner Winston. (You have more than one partner and are specifying which one.)

You agree to pay travel costs for my partner, Winston. (You have only one partner and follow his job description with a comma and his name.)

Given that difference, imagine yourself executor for a will that says:

I want my money divided between my daughter Joan and my son, Herbert.

The will-writer is telling you that he has several daughters and wants one-half of his money to go to Joan only; also that he has only one son named Herbert who should get the other half. If the will had been written by a lawyer who is presumed to have a mastery of punctuation in legal contexts, this would be the decision of the probate court, although other siblings argue. If the will was handwritten by someone whose punctuation may have been flawed by illness or lack of education, it could provide you with legal headaches for years to come.

I have two sisters and one brother. So I can refer to "my sister Natalie" (not my sister Kiki) or "my brother, Michael" because he is unique. I tell Michael that he is my only comma.