Commas

Commas

                This is a message to inform you about the importance of commas. Without them, people could die, ice cream would fall and small children would lose their pet turtles. In short, commas make the world a better place.

History of the Comma:

Commas were created by Aristophanes of Byzatium to help people read aloud. The different sized dots told people when to keep talking and when to take a breath. They were not considered punctuation marks until many years after being invented. The comma we use to today is only one of the dots he created, and is used to represent a pause.

Importance:

Example 1: there is a turtle named Bob, and an uncle named Bob. Franklin owns the turtle and leaves him with his uncle. Franklin sends his uncle a message saying: “Did you put away the turtle Bob?” His uncle Bob works at a zoo and put a random turtle back in his cage. Meanwhile, Bob the turtle is roaming free and ready to die in a hole. Because Franklin forgot a simple comma, his pet turtle may never see the light of day again.

Example 2: Grandma Joe is coming over for dinner. She has bad hearing, so whenever people talk to her they have to yell loudly. John-Boy and his cousins are all sitting around the dinner table ready to eat. Grandma is making the stew. The cousins are becoming impatient, so John-Boy yells, “LET’S EAT GRANDMA!” All the cousins jumped from their seats and stormed the kitchen. If only John-Boy would have included a comma after the word eat, Grandma Joe would have been able to bring the stew to the dinner table.

Example 3: It was the biggest ice cream tower in history, reaching up to heights of 3 miles. On the day the World-Record people came to measure the tower, an earthquake shook the small town. The tower began to wiggle and Thad Sciuto jumped out to save it. His friend, Ferdinand Rosencranz, shouted, “Don’t, let the ice cream fall!” Thad heard this, and immediately stepped out of the way, allowing the giant tower to flatten the countryside. Obviously, this is a misuse of the comma, possibly more dangerous than forgetting one.

These three examples show that speaking correct English, and speaking correct English will help you succeed in the future.

For fun, try finding the hidden commas in the following pictures:

If you zoom in on the right side of his forehead, it is just above his eyebrow.

 Now that you understand what you are supposed to do, try some more without our help.

This one is a bit harder. Not the one in the upper left corner.

 

Hint: It's on the right side of the river.

 Email us at duckmanconnections@gmail.com if you find all the commas in the last two pictures (please send us the picture with the comma circled). If we think you are right you will win a very special prize. 

This is the prize.