comma splicing: what do you think?

[harpsichordcarrier]

now personally I don't mind a little light comma splicing, after all if it is good enough for Graham Greene et al. it is good enough for me.
However, it appears that in the assessment criteria for English, we are to mark down those who comma-splice.
Surely it is a matter of taste, in most instances?

Does the dog know what a semi-colon is?

a conjuction would need a comma but not a semi colon

He is an idiot, he comma-splices sentences, and so do I when they occur thusly as a list.

Look at what I have to put up with here

I don't like you calling the dog an idiot either; he is just a dog [woof]

And why are we in a corner? Surely colon awareness is of major import?

idiot!

not zazen; the dog

...I am but a trainee pedant.

It is necessary therefore to admit, shamefacedly, to a penchant for this evil.

I submit to your punishments.

The punishment is 10 minutes on netmums.

this section of mumsnet is for SPECIAL and REALLY clever people

I look and lurk but rarely dare launch into the abyss!

I cannot stand comma splicing, did my best to beat teach it out of my students, and regularly annoy my (very forbearing) manager with corrections when he does it.

(Ellbell - you've got mail)

I think all dogs are well aware of what semi colons are

retiredgoth, please don't give up: there is hope. I am but a lowly part time pedant.

It's the semi-colon that makes him so smelly.

Berolina, whilst I'm very entertained by the prospect of annoying my manager, I thought you weren't supposed to put a comma before "and". Are you? I am bowing to you superior knowledge on this.

I'm always uneasy about the comma and 'and' myself, but I think its okay if the and is used as Berolina did as a conjunction, but not in when used in a list.

I'm always uneasy about the comma and 'and' myself, but I think its okay if the 'and' is used as Berolina did as a conjunction, but not when used in a list.

Just corrected my sentence before the dog takes over.

Pea: You can - it's called the Oxford comma - tbh I don't know why I used it there, but it is allowed

My manager is too unrufflable for annoying him to be really entertaining, sadly.

In a list it is usually either American or Oxford University Press.

We're in a corner, zazen, because we need to protect ourselves from the bad grammar, spelling and punctuation from which we feel constantly underfire.

It should really be called Paranoid Pedants' Padded Cell, but they are just humouring us.

Oooh, I would just like to clarify that I was dithering over my Oxford comma while bero and Nightof were explaining what it was.

I have noticed a comma cropping up regularly in front of conjunctions in books. Confuses me a bit as I always thought a conjunction meant no need for a comma or other punctuation

I didn't think you were supposed to separate the subject from a verb after "and" by using a comma.

So glad comma-splicing has a name as my daughter's head of year always does it in school letters and I want to bash her or at least send them back covered in red pen .

Am loving "the Oxford comma" and will be using it ad nauseum from now on

Boden - bash her.