Falling into a Com(m)a: Part 1
Falling into a Com(m)a: Parts 1, 2 and 3
Join PEG for a webinar series about the uses and abuses of commas in English-language sentence constructions. These webinars will also include sharing the wisdom and advice of experts about the way commas should be used effectively to convey writers’ intended meaning and to control the ebb and flow of sentences.
Date:
| Tuesday, 25 November | 18:00–20:00 (CAT) | Part 1 |
| Tuesday, 2 December | 18:00–20:00 (CAT) | Part 2 |
| Thursday, 18 December | 18:00–20:00 (CAT) | Part 3 |
Presenter: John Linnegar
Platform: Online (Zoom meeting)
Level: Any level – we can never know enough about the use of the comma in sentences, however experienced we are as wordsmiths and whichever genres we work in! Every author is bound to present us with new challenges, so the better we can grasp the role of the comma in all its guises, the better.
Prerequisites/foundational knowledge: None.
CPD hours: PEG members will earn CPD hours according to the criteria published on the PEG website. Attendees of the live presentation will receive a certificate confirming their attendance and the duration of the webinar. Those who are unable to attend the webinar live may submit their receipt as proof of having received the recording.
Pre-webinar materials:
Prior to the webinar series, registrants will be provided with an exercise in detecting and correcting erroneous usages of the comma, an exemplar of perfectly used punctuation taken from the preface of GV Carey’s book Mind the Stop: A brief guide to punctuation (Penguin, 1973) and a recommended list of publications that are devoted to punctuation and its use in the English language.
About the webinar
Each of the three webinars in this series will focus in detail on particular uses and abuses of the comma. As Lukeman (at 31) reminds us, the comma has few hard rules and as a result it is the mark most often misused (and misunderstood). This contention is supported by Gowers (at 242): ‘The use of commas cannot be learned by rule. … The correct use of the comma – if there is such a thing as “correct” use – can only be acquired by common sense, observation and taste. This renders it the mark most open to interpretation. Yet, based on frequency of use alone, the comma wields tremendous influence in sentences, outnumbering the full stop by at least 3 to 1 and the other punctuation marks by at least 5 to 1!
What complicates matters, too, is that the comma can be used to divide, yet it can also be used to connect. … Both divider and connector, the comma is schizophrenic (Lukeman, 32).
So, in these three webinars we’ll be covering more than 20 correct, meaningful uses of the comma and about another dozen incorrect uses, plus some contentious usages. As a result, you should leave this series not having fallen into a com(m)a but, instead, with a veritable compendium of the dos and don’ts about the use of this punctuation mark that should stand you in good stead to do justice to writers’ (imperfectly punctuated) words.
About our facilitator
John Linnegar has been a passionate pro/exponent and user of the English language – which is by no means an easy tongue to master and write in – since being taught it ‘proper’ at both junior and high school. He has since ploughed his passion for punctuation into his training courses and workshops. These are intended to help both writers and editors feel more comfortable with using the various stops not only to convey writers’ intended meaning (their ‘rhetorical’ duty), but also to ‘control the ebb and flow of a sentence, its rhythm, its speed’ (their ‘grammatical’ duty) (Lukeman The Art of Punctuation, 31; Gowers The Complete Plain Words 242).
Cost
| Affiliation | Early-bird special | Standard full fee | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webinar Series (3 webinars) 1 | Registration – one webinar2 | Registration – one webinar3 | ||||
| PEG members | R708 | R295 | R380 | |||
| Members of affiliated organisations4 | N/A | R400 | R500 | |||
| Non-affiliated members | N/A | R500 | R600 | |||
1Early-bird registration fee: on or before 18 November
2Before or on: 18 November (Webinar 1), 25 November (Webinar 2), 11 December (Webinar 3).
3From: 19 November to 23 November (Webinar 1), 26 November to 30 November (Webinar 2), 12 December to 16 December)
4Professional Journalists’ Association of South Africa (ProJourn), Southern African Freelancers’ Association (SAFREA), South African Science Journalists’ Association (SASJA), the South African Translators’ Institute (SATI), Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA), Society of English-language professionals in the Netherlands (SENSE), Institute of Professional Editors Limited (IPEd), Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) and Nordic Editors and Translators (NEaT).
Take advantage of the early-bird special: save money and secure your spot at this webinar series by registering early!
Please register by completing and emailing the registration form to the webinar administrator.
Deadline for registrations: 23 November (Webinar 1), 30 November (Webinar 2), 16 December (Webinar 3)