MSGID: 2:221/6.0 5f293f74   
   REPLY: 2:221/6.0 5f2724aa   
   PID: SmapiNNTPd/Linux/IPv6 1.3 20200711   
   CHRS: CP437 2   
   TZUTC: 0300   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2020-04-15   
   Wayne Harris to Anton Shepelev:   
      
   > I see your use of commas match my intuition about them,   
   > but I, so far, have not found an English grammar, or any   
   > book, that would clearly spell out these rules to me.   
      
   I have never consulted grammar books about punctutation, but   
   I recommend to you the following books from my definitive   
   list of manuals of English Grammar:   
      
     1.  The Grammar of English Grammars,   
         by Goold Brown   
      
     2.  Manual of English Grammar and Composition,   
         by John Nesfield   
      
   > If I may, let me ask some questions.  My intuition says I   
   > should always isolate a vocative in between commas.  ``Hi,   
   > Anton.''  However, I pretty much never see anyone writing   
   > that way.  Isn't that a grammar rule?   
      
   Of course, your intuition is both logical and grammarical.   
   Nesfield, for example, says under rule 214 (c) for the   
   placement of the comma:   
      
     After the Nominative of an address--   
       Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.   
      
   > You wrote ``furthermore, [...]''.  That also matches my   
   > intuition.  But I often see people ignoring this comma.   
      
   I put that comma because I should pause there were I   
   speaking.   
      
   > Perhaps this is an optional comma.  Is it?  What is the   
   > book you go to to cite such rules?   
      
   I don't think it optional but Nesfield disagrees:   
      
     After an adverbial phrase at the commencement of a   
     sentence (Here, however, the use of the comma is   
     optional):   
       In fact, his poetry is no better than prose.   
      
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