The Challenges of Rule-Based Learning of the Comma Among
Nigerian English Users
Jacob Ado Ama
Department of English Language,
Plateau State University,
Bokkos, Plateau State, Nigeria
jacobama2@gmail.com
08063933876
Joseph Nuhu Azi
Department of English Language,
Plateau State University,
Bokkos, Plateau State, Nigeria
nuwhoazi@gmial.com
08036536184
Abstract
Learners
of English in Nigeria hardly relate punctuation and meaning in written
expressions or recognize the relationship between intonation and punctuation. There
is a proliferation of incorrect use of punctuation marks, especially commas,
among students and even graduates. The investigation therefore focuses on the
use of the comma among students of the College of Education Gindiri. 40 students
were interviewed and issued a questionnaire to find out why and how they use the
comma. Data from the questionnaire and interviews were collected and analyzed.
The investigation revealed that most of the students use the commas more in
compliance with some kind of abstract rules than the need to enhance meaning.
This explains why it is difficult for most students and graduates to correctly
use the comma. It is taught or used
largely based on rules; as such learners don’t realize its creative application
to enhance meaning. The researchers recommend that approaches to the teaching
of punctuation should de-emphasize the rule approach and focus instead on its output.
Function as regards clarity of expression and information should be emphasized
not mechanical functions.
Keywords:
Changes, Meaning Intonation, Punctuation Marks
Introduction
The craft of writing to communicate especially emotions is
quite complicated such that restricting ones’ self to popular punctuation rules
would be a denial of communication rights and privileges. But of course, Truss
has observed the complication in determining the best way to use the comma and
hereby says
Thurber
was once asked by a correspondent: "Why did you have a comma in the
sentence, 'After dinner, the men went into the living room'?" And his
answer was probably one of the loveliest things ever said about punctuation.
"This particular comma," Thurber explained, "was Ross's way of
giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up." Why the
problem? Why the scope for such differences of opinion? Aren't there rules for
the comma, just as there are rules for the apostrophe? Well, yes; but you will
be entertained to discover that there is a significant complication in the case
of the comma (70).
Rules are good but not all the time maximally effective. Decker
separated the goal-based and rule-based organizational performance giving the
advantages and disadvantages of both. He said, “A key attribution of the GBR
(Goal-based regulation) approach is that it shifts the focus away from the
detail of individual rules, which seek, in combination, to achieve a regulatory
outcome, to the goal or outcome itself” (20). The impression is that an organization
may not depend solely on one of the two rules but his conclusion appears to
show that goal-based performance is more effective. He says it allows people to
be innovative and enjoy freedom of interest (23). The punctuation marks are
generally referred to as a set of rules so that most people have learnt to
follow it without noticing its essence. And because there is minimal policing
or no fear of sanction, they can always reduce the rules to their convenience
without minding the possible miscommunication risks involved. Still, on
organizational performance, Ruijer and Meijer (901) compare rules-based and
principles-based approaches where they observed that “rules-based approaches
are more commonly found in societies favouring bureaucracies, while
principles-based approaches are more commonly found in societies characterized
by strong and operative social controls”. Arjoon furthered that rule-based
approach is tied to specific procedures centring on does and don’ts; it
emphasizes enforcement and people are driven by fear and “blind obedience”
(58). This notion seems alien in language study but its psychological experience
cuts across every rule-dependent practice.
This research is concerned with establishing the likely
causes of poor punctuation in the writings of most Nigerian tertiary students
and graduates who for this research will be referred to as educated because
they are expected to be capable of written communication. This is based on the
general assumption that uneducated people always require the help of educated
ones whenever there is a need for written communication. Students in primary
and secondary schools are taught how to appropriately use punctuation marks but
the application in their sentence constructions is a different level of
challenge as they are still in the early stage of learning. Since non-native
use of English is said to be affected by the mother tongue, this research will attempt
to establish possible contributions of the mother tongue to punctuation errors.
It is important to note that this work is not to teach the use of the comma but
to observe its use by those believed to have learned.
Statement of the Problem
Punctuation is taught to help learners enhance their writing
abilities. However, it appears that the perception of the importance of
punctuation has always been wrongly perceived by the same learners. Even at the
higher education level, learners tend to struggle with grasping the use of
punctuation through the rule-based approach. The rules are seen as unnecessary
and to some extent too complicated to follow, and that has negatively affected
quick learning of the punctuation. The students of the College of Education,
Gindiri have attested that they struggle to memorise the rules of punctuation
and they do not know how to use most of the punctuation marks. This study
therefore suggests a provision of an alternative way of teaching the use of the
punctuation marks, which may not entirely remove the rule concept but would
deemphasise it to project the function-based approach to learning the
application of the punctuation marks.
Research
Questions
The questions to be answered in this paper are:
i.
Why is the use of the comma a challenge in written
expressions among Nigerians?
ii. How possible can the mother tongue
influence the use of punctuation?
iii. What possible reasons could inspire the
wrong placement of commas in a sentence?
iv. How adequate or inadequate is the rule-based
punctuation teaching method?
Literature
Review
Definition
and use of the punctuation marks
Stilman (53) says that Punctuation
is of Latin origin meaning point.
Therefore, punctuation marks point to the meaning of words in a sentence. As
part of the observed functions, they define the relationship of sentence words so
that meanings are clear, devoid of ambiguities or misinterpretations; and
another is that they help to indicate tone. She says that the first function given
is easily learnt but the second requires skills, such that a novice writer
would have more difficulty using it. This in a way corresponds to Awad’s three
functions of the punctuation marks which are phonetic, grammatical and semantic
(213). With punctuation marks, readers can understand how phrases, sentences
and paragraphs are connected. “It shows features of discourse like intonational
contours, pauses, and emphasis.” The use of punctuation varies among dialects
of the same language as well as languages that are culturally different (Alqinai,
3).
Punctuation marks are language “traffic signals” (VOA) which
when correctly used, make text easier for readers to comprehend. Readers are guided
as they read the text to ensure they get the intended information. When punctuations
are misused, they can alter the meaning of a sentence and misinform the reader
(Philippine Content Development, 1-2; Adorno, 300).
This is an example given by Truss (9);
A. A woman without her man is nothing.
B. A woman, without her man, is nothing.
C. A woman: without her, man is nothing.
Sentence A is ambiguous; it can mean A or B to a
knowledgeable speaker. In sentence B, a woman is nothing if she is without her
man. It is more like suggesting that a woman is very unimportant unless she has
her man. In C, a man is nothing without a woman. It emphasizes that a woman is
very important, and a man is insignificant without her.
Uses
of the comma
Javiein Bayraktar (5) describes the comma as “the most
ubiquitous, elusive and discretionary of all stops”. The comma is used in many
different ways:
i.
They mark out items in a list, before dialogue, mark out
additional information, before the conjunction, and enclose parenthetical
expressions (Writing Center).
ii.
They separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses
(sentence parts) in a series (Writing Center).
iii.
They are used after an introductory dependent clause (a
group of words before the subject of a sentence that does not form a complete
sentence) (Writing Center).
iv.
They indicate that introductory words and phrases moved from
the end of the sentence (Writing Center).
v.
They are used between independent clauses (complete
sentences) joined by a coordinating conjunction: for, and, nor, but, or, yet,
so (Writing Center).
vi.
They set off nonessential phrases or clauses (phrases that
can be removed without changing the sentence’s overall meaning) or appositives
(words or phrases that rename a noun) (Writing Center).
vii.
They separate paired adjectives that describe a noun
(Writing Center).
Adorno says that “there is no element in which language
resembles music than in the punctuation marks” and that “the comma and the
period correspond to the half-cadence and the authentic cadence” (300), which
is to say that punctuation marks add musicality to expressions. The pause duration
indicated by the comma and the period may, however, not be differentiable
because their difference is not that much a matter of duration.
The
pause and the comma
The comma is mostly described as indicating a pause
occurring within a sentence. To some, it is only a mark that must be used in
writing. Colman says,
They write or type a line or two, then have a vague feeling
that there should be some sort of mark to indicate some sort of pause. So they
do the first thing they can think of. They put in a quick shapeless pen stroke,
or tap the hyphen key, and presto! The thing is punctuated (39).
During speaking, air goes out of the lungs. Speech sounds
produced by breathing in are rare. The lung is momentarily refilled with air during
which a speaker will pause before resuming a conversation. It is not all the
time that the pause comes at the end of a sentence. However, a tactful speaker tries
to break strategically so that a long utterance is not chopped up into some
bits of uncoordinated utterances. The pause could come within a complex or
compound sentence, between clauses and phrases, not because it contributes to
the meaning of the long sentence, but because the speaker may need sufficient
air to control intonation within or at the end of a tone phrase. It could also
occur only because the speaker is unable to sustain his or her breath to the
end of the utterance. Not everybody can sustain his or her breath through a
long sentence, so the pause is sometimes not intended as part of the utterance.
Therefore not all pauses are indicators of punctuation marks (like a comma).
Sentences like the ones below are based on the assumption that a comma is equal
to a pause.
We will pray, because we need God to help us.
That I am a soldier, is not to say that I love to kill.
According to a publication of VOA (Voice of America), some have
said that the comma has mainly been used to show a pause or to indicate a short
stoppage or break (not for any grammatical consequence). But it is added that
in more recent times, the comma serves a different purpose (VOA). But others
say that to indicate an ungrammatical pause, a dash should be used.
Translation
and punctuation marks
Punctuation marks are not used the same
way in all languages. Alqinai sees a problem with the fact that conventional
punctuation is not used by some languages in marking sentence boundaries. He
says punctuation marks have rules that are “prescribed as conventional ‘good
practice’ and they vary from one language to another”. For instance, “the
quotation marks used to enclose direct quotation in English are not used by the
French who use either a dash at the opening of a quotation or angle brackets to
surround it” (3); and the Greeks use the semicolon for imperative sentences (Truss,
111).
Mogahed writes that “Punctuation plays a vital role in the
interpretation of certain text”. Especially in translation, he says that
haphazard use of punctuation could result in misinformation and that
differences exist between languages about punctuation (as he discovers between
Arabic and English) (2). He says that the comma is not always useful in
translated text as “norms of the target language do not require the use of a
comma in the context” (12).
Awad, in his TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)
research at An-Naja National University, discovers that the respondents were
not able to use some punctuation marks correctly. The comma was the most
difficult to use, and the main problem was the difference between English and
Arabic Languages in using the comma (224).
In German, the application of punctuation cannot be based on
one's understanding of English punctuation. The independent clause of time, for
instance, is always set off by a comma as opposed to English where the comma is
used mainly when the subordinate clause precedes the main clause (Vajda et al,
81). Vajda says, “For every instance where the use of some punctuation mark in
English finds an exact parallel in Russia, there seem to be at least two others
where a knowledge of English punctuation will interfere with the choice of the
correct mark in Russia” (ix). He adds that the assumption that the English
punctuation and the German punctuation are the same can cause confusion and
embarrassment (x).
Methodology
The researcher administered a test to 40 students of the
College of Education, Gindiri, all of whom are believed to have completed their
secondary school education to ascertain their competence in using the comma.
They were asked to define the comma and identify its most important function.
The researchers read some sentences showing different intonations, and the
respondents were asked to punctuate the sentences based on the intonation used
in the reading. Four sentences were given to be punctuated; and the same
sentences, already punctuated, were given to be interpreted based on the
punctuation. The data was collected and analyzed based on simple percentages.
87.5 per cent of the subjects showed a lack of appropriate and practical
understanding of the use and functions of the comma.
Rule-based
Use of the Punctuation Marks
On her acknowledgement page, Truss says “Thanks are due to
the many writers on punctuation who did all the hard work of formulating the
clear rules I have doubtless muddied in this book” (ix). Because Jane sees the
uses of punctuation marks as rules, she itemizes the functions as rule 1, rule
2 etc. (52). It is, however, true that the rules are meant to emphasize proper
grammaticality of language use, like in Jane’s rule 1 where she says “to avoid
confusion, use commas to separate words and word groups with a series of three
or more”. She has stated, by the use of to
avoid confusion that although punctuation marks are rules, they do not
require mindless abidance, but that observing the rule makes better
communication.
Users seem not to understand that the comma can be used
largely based on their projected outcome. They, most often, think that they
should judiciously follow the rule, which causes them to have difficulty
knowing whether or not a comma is necessary for certain sentences. Based on
this rule-based teaching, a writer is an offender only because he fails to
abide by the set writing rule, not because the absence of the comma matters in
the communication. Punctuation rules are important but not necessarily significant.
Learners and teachers should acquire the attitude and skill to use punctuation
because rules are easily forgotten (Robinson (2002); Awad, 217).
Adorno continues that punctuation places the writer in a predicament
and that “the requirements of the rules of punctuation and those of the
subjective need for logic and expression are not compatible”. He says that the
rules of punctuation are always “rigid and crude” and the writer cannot trust
them even though he cannot ignore them as that will be a major problem in any
written work (301). He buttresses how a writer could be caught between adhering
to the rules or responding to subjective interest because the rules do not all
the time correspond to the intention of the writer.
In the Oxford Style Manual, the punctuation section is
introduced by the phrase “General Rule”, and it is supported by imperative
statements (9):
“Use a pair of commas to surround a non-defining clause….”
“Do not use commas to surround a defining clause….”
“Use a comma between items in a list.”
Rules work in language the same as in other aspects of
social activity – to protect users’ integrity and relationships. Many times
people break rules trying to observe them. That seems to be the problem of
language users. They try to observe punctuation even when they don’t understand
it, and in the effort, they become victims of its misuse. For example;
Rule: Do
not place a comma between a subject clause and a verb.
User: In
my utterance, there is a pause after yesterday.
The
problem that made me miss my flight yesterday, can still be blamed for my
failing the interview.
There could always be a rest after yesterday either to take in a breath or because the speaker wants
the hearer to grasp the idea in the subject clause before completing the information.
The most common and memorable of the rules is that which says the comma should
represent a pause. But recently, more rules have emerged and some seem to
contradict this “golden rule”, and memorizing all the rules is difficult,
especially for those who are not compelled to study them like most language
experts are.
Trask says that poor punctuation makes life difficult for
the reader. He says;
When we speak English, we have all sorts of things we can
use to make our meaning clear: stress, intonation, rhythm, pauses –even if all
else fails, repeating what we’ve said. When we write, however, we can’t use any
of these devices, and the work that they do in speech must be almost entirely
handled by punctuation (University of Sussex).
Results
and Discussion of the Punctuation Test Administered to 40 People
The
respondents were asked to Punctuate sentences a and b.
a. Last Christmas we slaughtered a goat
and my mother fried the meat and we ate
b. Let’s eat grandma
70.5%
used the comma in a. after goat and meat.75% used a comma in b. after eating. However, it was obvious that
they did not notice the ambiguities if the comma was not used since they could
not explain the differences when they were asked.
c – f were given without punctuation, and the respondents
were asked to punctuate them according to the reading by the researcher. The
researcher read the sentences using pauses and intonation to differentiate
them.
c. Last Christmas, we killed a goat and my
mother, fried the meat and ate it.
d. Last Christmas we killed a goat, and my
mother fried the meat, and we ate.
e. Let’s eat Grandma.
f.
Let’s eat, Grandma.
They were asked if there were meaning differences between the
pairs of sentences c –f. 90% of the respondents said there were differences. To
them, however, the difference was only in the occurrence of the pause, as only 10%
could explain the semantic differences of either of the two pairs of sentences.
The respondent’s common answer to why the comma is used in writing is that it
indicates a pause and that the pause does not affect meaning.
The researcher
explained the difference in the pairs of sentences and asked if their mother
tongue could have affected their performances. The respondents explained that
their mother tongue is partly responsible for their inability to notice the
difference created by the comma. For example, a single group of words cannot
represent the two meanings in Hausa. c and d would be translated as;
a. Last Christmas, we slaughtered a goat
and my mother fried the meat and we ate.
b. Kristimatin da ya wuce mun yanka akuya da mamana, mun soya naman
mun ci.
c. Last Christmas we slaughtered a goat, and
my mother fried the meat, and we ate.
d. Kristimatin da ya wuce mun yanka akuya da mama na ta soya
naman, mun ci.
The
major difference is on the pronouns we
and she which must be included in the
Hausa. While some pronouns can be omitted in English, they are not so easily
left out in Hausa. They help to clear the possible ambiguity that may be
created.
In essence, the research reveals that generally, people use
the comma without recognizing its potential to change or enhance meaning in
expressions. Also, the respondent's understanding of the relationship between
the comma and intonation is poor. Although they are aware of the pause, they
are not quite aware of its intonational implication about meaning.
The respondents explained that the comma is inserted where
readers would need to rest and take in a breath before they continue reading or
talking. If this is their idea, it means that they could insert the comma only
when they feel the sentence is getting too long to be read without a break.
Punctuations of this nature are produced because the rule is not explained.
Examine the sentence below.
The doctor that was sacked two weeks ago, has come to take
the rest of his stuff out of the offices.
Since the readers may express difficulty sustaining their
breath from the beginning to the end of the above sentence, the writer in
obedience to the punctuation rule places a comma after ago where some rest may be required. It is important to highlight
that the comma will be used to indicate a pause only necessitated by the
importance of intonation, thereby illuminating the corresponding usage of
punctuation in written and spoken expression.
Suggestions
Learners should be made to understand the details about the
use of the comma. They should be shown how misplacement or omission of the
comma can affect communication as seen in sentences c., d., e., and f. above.
Colman has attempted an approach that is not rule-based as
she has used the writer’s voice to indicate his or her desire to achieve good
written communication through appropriate use of punctuation marks (40-80).
a. I am asking a question.
b. I want to insert an extra thought into
a sentence to make it clearer.
c. I want to break up a long sentence.
d. I want to shout, blow my sack, say
something astonishing.
This is good because the writer is aware that words are not
more important than the marks placed around them. Learners should understand
that their native languages may not be like English in terms of punctuation. So
they have to master the languages according to their unique demands.
For example, take the rule “The comma should be used to
separate items in a list” and ask “What happens if a comma is not used? The
list will be muddled up. In some cases, it won’t be clear if the list is a
single item or different items. For instance, I use green orange and blue colours for my decorations. This
statement would possibly suggest that the speaker uses unripe orange and
different shades of blue for the decoration. But if the comma is used to
separate the list of words as in I love green, orange, and blue colours, it
will easily be noticed that the speaker is referring to green colour, orange
colour and blue colour. It is now
clear that green does not modify orange, and blue does not modify colours.
With an explanation such as this, learners can easily remember to use the comma
because they understand the danger of omitting it. They won’t be struggling to
obey a rule they can’t explain.
Conclusion
Misuse of the comma is a common problem with an uncommon
solution highlighted in this research. This paper reemphasizes the importance
of punctuation in written communication; that improper punctuation could result
in misinformation. It has revealed that to a large extent, students may not be
entirely blamed for their inadequate use of the comma because they learn it mainly
as a rule they need to follow rather than a need to help them better communicate
their intentions. Teaching punctuation as a set of rules is a problem in
developing good writing skills. Another cause of the problem is the failure to
clarify the fact that the mother tongue can affect the learning and use of
punctuation. Transliteration has become normal so long as the information is
passed. The last of the problems is the common belief that the comma is mainly used
to indicate pause in utterances. More research should be done to find better ways
of learning the use of punctuation. The focus should move from rule and fear of
its violation to expected result.
Works Cited
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Marks”. The Antioch Review, vol.48,
no.3, pp. 300-305, 1990.
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Arjoon, Surendra. “Striking a Balance between
Rules and Principle-based Approaches for Effective governance: A risks-bases
Approach”. Journal of Business Ethics,
68, pp. 53-82, 2006.
Awad, Ahmed. “The Most Common
Punctuation Errors Made by the English and the TEFL Majors at An-Najah National
University”. An-Naja Univ. J. Res. (Humanities),
Vol. 26(1), 2012.
Bayraktar, Murat et al. “An Analysis of
English Punctuation: The Special Case of Comma”. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, July 1998.
Colman, Ruth. The Briefest English Grammar and Punctuation Guide Ever. University
of New South Wales Press Ltd, Australia, 2011.
Curriculum Associates, LLC. “Lesson 10:
Punctuation to Indicate a Pause or Break”. www.grammarly.com
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to Regulation”. BEIS Research Paper Number 8, 2018.
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Curriculum Draft. “Use Punctuation to Indicate a Pause or Break”. 2014.
Kirkman, John. Punctuation
Matters. Fourth edition, Routledge, 2006.
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Spelling, Style, Usage and Grammar. Writer’s Digest Books, 1997.
Straus, Jane. The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, 10th edition,
Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, 2008.
Trask, Larry. Why learn to punctuate? University of Sussex, 1997.
m.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/why
Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots and Leaves: the Zero Tolerance to Punctuation. Gotham
Books, 2003.
University of Oxford Style Guide, 2014.
Vajda, Edward et al. Rusian Punctuation and Related Symbols: A
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VOA, Take a Breath with comma. VOA Learning English, www.voanews.com,
March 30, 2017.
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