Mea Culpa: Easy reading

Susanna Richards pauses to examine some of last week’s errors in The Independent

‘She had the look of a woman whose punctuational needs had been satisfied’ (Getty)

We seem sometimes to forget that, when people read books, or newspaper reports, or anything else, they are better able to understand what is written when it is given the right punctuation. This serves not just to make writing comprehensible, but to slow it down, which allows us time to process what we are reading.

In an article about the suspension of MP Diane Abbott, we quoted a statement provided by her colleague John McDonnell, which read: “I can completely understand why people are angry but all I can say is that I hope all those now sitting in judgement of her have the generosity of spirit to acknowledge that for decades she has been at the forefront of campaigning against racism and has endured so much herself. Hopefully, we can all learn from this.”

Leaving out the last bit, that’s 51 whole words without a single pause, stop, hesitation or interruption. Which would be wonderful if it were a game of who can hold their breath the longest, but our aim at The Independent is that our copy is comfortable to read, and this requires that we insert at least an occasional comma – even if the original text contains none.