Grammar, the comma, and me: copy from a comment

[azurelunatic]

I try. I do try.

Unfortunately, since the advent of school, work, Livejournal, and the myriad other little distractions that have crept into my writing life, the noble comma's proper use has occasionally eluded me.

I was raised with excellent grammar; it was not something I learned from school. Many parents impart religion upon their children to stick to them unbreakably throughout their lives. My parents stuck me with proper usage instead.

Comments

Speaking of proper usage...

[lasayla.livejournal.com]

It's a little sad that the word 'myriad' is abused so often, that I automatically had a "squee" moment when I saw you hadn't used the word 'of' after it.

Darth "Panoply gets an of, myriad doesn't!"

Re: Speaking of proper usage...

[azurelunatic]

....I had to think for a moment to realize that, in fact, you were absolutely right.

My correctness in speaking and writing (more so in writing, though I try to speak the way I write) is on such a fundamental level to me that grammatical laws are in me on the level that many people have social behavior laws. Where some people would be upset over some interaction problem ("No! You're not supposed to have more than one boyfriend! That's Just Plain Wrong!") I get upset in the same way over a phrasing problem. "You're not supposed to say 'Me and a few friends'(<lj user="azrielsatan")! That's Just Plain Wrong!" I had to go random journalhopping for a quote Just Plain Wrong enough. On my first hop, I got an excellent journal of giggly goodness (I commented to her, so she may well wind up on my friends list in the future) but nothing there was at all bad.