Punctuation and Grammar and Usage, Oh My! Part 1

Confession: I am obsessed with punctuation. I adore it. I agonize over it. I have had a favorite punctuation mark since I was fourteen years old. (The semicolon. I love the semicolon like I love my dog.) And my favorite thing about punctuation is that a single, tiny mark can completely change the meaning of an entire sentence. 

Not all punctuation is this important, of course. In many cases a choice in punctuation isn’t a big deal. For example, I could have put a comma after “in many cases,” since those three words form an introductory adverbial phrase.* But I didn’t, because it’s optional and I didn’t want the pause.

But that last sentence—take a careful look—brings me to a punctuation question that is capable of sending me into raptures. This is the question of whether or not to put a comma before a “because” clause that follows a negative statement.** 

In other words, which of these sentences is punctuated correctly?

I didn’t go to the dance, because my suit was yellow.

I didn’t go to the dance because my suit was yellow.

Trick question! The answer is, it depends on whether or not this person attended the dance. The first one implies that they didn’t.*** The second implies that they did. 

When my Basic Editing Skills professor went over this question, I was baffled. It took me the full hour to catch on. So let me explain. The first one is fairly straightforward. This person didn’t go to the dance, and the reason they didn’t go was that they only have one suit and it is yellow, and for some reason that is a problem. Psshh. You would have rocked it, dude. Get over yourself.  

The second sentence implies that this person did attend the dance, but that they did so not because their suit was yellow, but rather for some unknown reason, like that they wanted to show off their new neon dreads. Hopefully, for the sake of clarity, the person who writes the second sentence follows up immediately with a clarifying sentence:

I didn’t go to the dance because my suit was yellow. I went because I wanted to show off my new neon dreads. 

See the difference? And it all hinges on that one little comma. How cool is that?? This is me in raptures over punctuation, people. 

Of course, it would be clearer, in the second case, for the author to retool the sentence so that the negative falls in the second half rather than being stuck to the verb, but honestly, who’s going to write

I went to the dance, not because my suit was yellow, but because I wanted to show off my new neon dreads. 

Um, no one. Fine, maybe John F. Kennedy. 

So the comma picks up the slack, for the win. You’re awesome, comma. Thanks for being a bro.

Do you have any punctuation questions that have been bugging you? Ask me in the comments—I’ll comment back if it’s a simple fix or do a post if it requires more depth (or is too awesome not to post about). 

*Chicago (16^th ed) 6.36, “Commas with introductory adverbial phrases.”

** Chicago (16^th ed.) 6.31, “Comma following main clause.”

***I’m a fan of using “they” as a generic singular pronoun, but I understand if this hurts your soul, and I apologize. I thought about using “he” here, but I have a female friend who would totally rock a yellow suit. Yes, Bridey, I’m talking about you.