Who needs an editor?

Part one

Well I certainly dont. I mean I went to Oxford, admittedly only on a day trip, but long enough for me to learn about the ‘Oxford Comma’. Oh yes! Mind you almost caused a divorce as my wife was taught by very strict nuns never ever to use a comma before ‘and’. In the end I had to point out that she had never been to Oxford like I had – which shut her up for a bit. Only a bit though as she remembered that she had been to Coventry. I then pointed out that she had actually been sent to Coventry, which was a bit different. And that anyway there was no way Coventry could in any way be compared to Oxford. “They haven’t got there own dictionary”, I said. Oh no!

Having to give in on that one, she tried to widen the discussion to semi-colons and colons. Well I knew about semi-colons as I had had my appendix out in the days when they took it out with your tonsils when they did not know what was wrong with you. But I refused to discuss them and colons in general on the grounds of property. Mind you she shook me a bit when she came back with “The colon is also used when a conjunction is ommitted in a compound sentence expressing a strong contrast.”

You do!