Kershner’s chapter nine made me realize just how little my high school covered grammar.  I couldn’t remember covering anything in those few pages outside of senior year; Knowing my class (and seeing some of their Facebook pages), I can assure you that most of them skipped those few weeks.

The examples in the chapter made me laugh and were also easy to understand.  My particular favorite was under section 5: “Commas set off words of direct address from the rest of the sentence” — “Put down that chainsaw, Grandma, before you hurt someone.”

Sadly, this chapter also made me realize how many Internet users — or at least bloggers — have no use for grammar; They either ignore it, or they clearly never paid attention in English lessons.

In an attempt to quell poor Internet comma usage, the following memes will hopefully bring about awareness to the plague of terrible grammar.

Success Kid heard all about FANBOYS: for, and, not, but, or, yet and so.  While the little guy didn’t quite realize what it was, he at least knows about the coordinating conjunctions that can follow a comma…unlike many users on the Internet.

The poor, lonely Forever Alone guy didn’t realize how important correct comma usage was until it was too late.  It’s ok, FA.  There’s still a chance.

Everyone’s favorite Annoying Facebook Girl (come on, we all know one) demonstrates the disastrous results of ignoring commas altogether.  (Commas, boys and girls.  They’re important.  They really, truly are.)

In a contrast to Forever Alone, the English Error Echidna appreciates good comma and semicolon usage.  In fact, he is so blown away by the use of correctly using a semicolon between the two clauses that he proposes marriage.  I’m starting to think good grammar might be a winning quality for a relationship as well.  (I blame dating a writer.)

Of course, Y U NO guy has just had enough.  He doesn’t even explain himself, he just yells at the world.  While this is a wide encompassing meme, he explains how I feel on a near daily basis.

Finally, the OCD Otter is not only cute and one of my favorite animals, he also realizes how important punctuation is in his everyday life.  He knows that bad punctuation could lead to him being judged by others if he doesn’t correct it right away.  Good job, Mr. Otter.  Well done.  I commend you for your diligence.

The memes made it much easier to get into the assignment of punctuation. Hopefully, one day, my memes encourage others to care about their use of punctuations.

Remember:
“Let’s eat Grandma!”
“Let’s eat, Grandma!”

Punctuation saves lives.