On occasion, we talk about writing on this podcast, and episode number three is a great

example of this.

And just this week, Josh from Bel Air, Maryland writes in and asks this last year, I think

it was January of 2013, you tweeted about how much you love commas.

Can you expand on what you meant by this tweet, quote, I love commas.

No punctuation mark is more useful in helping a reader know how you want your senses

to be read, end quote.

And of course, I should be noted for listeners that your tweet about your love of commas has

no commas.

I have the conviction that grammatical rules and punctuation rules are practical ways of

helping us love people.

So grammar has a moral dimension to it.

In other words, if we could agree on certain grammatical features, as it rules are, agreeing

on certain grammatical features, what they mean, we will be able to communicate.

And that is a loving thing to do.

It's unloving, not to care if people understand what you say.

If you say, I'm going to talk and write anyway I want, I don't care if people understand

what I say.

You're not a loving person, at least not in that moment, you're not acting in a loving

way.

It's unloving to cultivate patterns of grammar or punctuation that make communication

harder.

...