Stephen wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:17:31 -0700, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>
> wrote:
> 
>> Stephen wrote:
>>> should be written as: "The rest of it, is not difficult." 
>> Not in American English. Putting a comma there is incorrect, as it's 
>> separating two halves of one sentence. I understand British English is 
>> more relaxed about where commas go.
> 
> I was taught that a comma can be used to show a slight pause in a
> sentence and/or to clarify the intended meaning. An example from
> Wikipedia 
> The teacher beat the scholar with a whip. A simple description. 
> The teacher beat the scholar, with a whip. Expression of outrage
> 
> Having said that I agree that it doesn't look right :)

I was taught the same in grade school; that the comma could be used to 
indicate a pause. By college, my English professor tried to remove that 
bad habit. Losing 3 letter grades on one draft just from misplaced 
commas taught me better then all the rules she could quote.

Do I dare tell her that what I really learned was: "If you can't figure 
out where to put the comma then just re-write the sentence."

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