to think that if you send a letter from a school that might go public - you check for comma splices

[katmanwho]

School said it would give pupils bread and butter if they didn't have money.
Parents complain. Goes national in the news.
School retracts.

The letter is here:

www.albanacademy.org/assets/schoolmealsletterretraction-1.pdf

Part of it:

Following a number of parental concerns regarding the recent school
meals letter we have decided to rethink our policy and will not be
introducing the new system outlined in that letter.
I apologise if this has caused any offence, this was not our intention.

The letter itself was intended to explain the situation and trial a policy
that has been successfully adopted by other schools

Actually - commas seem lacking in the first sentence as well.

This is not a chatty letter. This is an official retraction.

Could do better

The comma splice in this case is mildly (and I do mean mildly) irritating but it doesn't affect the meaning of the letter

This

I saw much worse when my DC were at primary school.

Wonders what the meal issue was. School meals winds me up as much. The midday meal is "lunch". Wish schools would stop namby pambying to those who call it dinner for fear of causing offence. Dinner I fine if that's what's said at home but there is nothing wrong with teaching children the correct term for it. Don't draw me on the subject of teachers who refer to kids.

You just noticed the comma placement?

Note the itself and how badly written the last sentence is (The letter was intended (...) to trial a policy...).
Letters can't trial policies or take any actions.
That would be a job for the school. :)

Linguistically the comma splice is only an error in English. It is a compulsory part of some languages, e.g. Belgian and French.

OK, in formal writing it will usually denote a sentence that should be re-written however, informally, there is little wrong with one, it will often make reading more pleasant.

You just noticed the comma placement

I know. It was the quote in the paper. Then I read it and noticed the missing commas in the first sentence.

The actual content passed me by

There are far worse errors to be seen in many, many letters from schools and teachers - I'm a fan of the dash myself.

I gather from the other thread that "comma splice" is an American term. I am American, and I was always taught that they are wrong. I don't like them; I do love a nice semi-colon.

Following a number of parental concerns regarding the recent school
meals letter we have decided to rethink our policy and will not be
introducing the new system outlined in that letter.
I apologise if this has caused any offence, this was not our intention.
The letter itself was intended to explain the situation and trial a policy
that has been successfully adopted by other schools

The reference to "outlined in that letter" is redundant.

"Trial" is a noun. "trial a policy" grates.

"trial a policy
that has been successfully adopted by other schools" if I were prepared to give "trial" as a verb a pass, "that" should be "which"

"Itself" is redundant in the phrase "the letter itself". It suggests the writer does not understand reflexive forms.

None of which matter on an Internet forum but, unfortunately do matter in a letter from a head teacher.

Yep OP. If you are going to criticise others' grammar, you would do well to get your own sorted.

Dear Parents,

We fucked up. Sorry

Luv

The Head

If you are going to criticise others' grammar, you would do well to get your own sorted

And again - internet chat is different to a newsletter.

Lweji you beat me to it.

Seneca Agree about semi-colons.
"I apologise if this has caused any
offence ; this was not our intention" .

A semi-colon works perfectly in that sentence.

sallying

Whenever I write reports, they are hopefully correct in all aspects of SPAG.

But MN is a chat room.

But Bingo for your comments though

I had never heard of a comma splice until a thread on here last week.

A semi-colon works perfectly in that sentence

Exactly. I think a dash would be too informal.

I apologise if this has caused any offence ; this was not our intention.

I apologise if this has caused any offence - this was not our intention.

But, in real life, anyone reading those two options would wonder if their keyboard had lost its comma. They look stilted. A letter home form school should be an easy read, treading a fine line between being totally formal and being inclusive.

A policy document should be formal and free of comma splices. A letter to parents outlining the policy should be more accessible.

Comma splices in formal writing read like shit.

Because in the overall scheme of things it doesn't matter.

By all means have a debate about the rights and wrongs of the policy but this just smacks of sneery teacher bashing and a misplaced superiority complex.

Tell me why you don't think it needs to be correctly punctuated? [sic]

As others have pointed out, the use of comna splices is not an incorrect use of punctuation but is a matter of style. Whilst the letter was not the most elegantly written, it was appropriate for the audience and for the tone it was seeking to set.

Katman
You mean you hope your reports are correct; the reports are not full of hope. Or are they?

By all means have a debate about the rights and wrongs of the policy but this just smacks of sneery teacher bashing and a misplaced superiority complex

Why teacher bashing? If DS's school had sent such a letter, I wouldn't have been impressed with the grammar.

Others would have been fine. As far as I am aware, schools teach children to join clauses somehow - and not to use a comma. Schools should be modelling correct SPAG.

Ooops!

A letter home from school should be an easy read

I agree. Anything more than one line and I'm very likely to ignore.

Never heard of comma splices before. I would have used a full stop there.

I honestly can't find a fuck to give

This is the rub - and I suspect it's personal to people.

www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/the-comma-splice

The comma here may well represent how people say the two clauses out loud. However, in any formal or academic writing, to use it is incorrect; it is a mistake that can make your writing seem careless or amateurish

Is a school newsletter formal or informal?

I think it's formal - but others will think it's formal. Maybe the school should send out 2 newsletters depending on the parents