Lesson for Thursday 01/27/11 - Comma fun and cannibalism

Thursday's lesson had a lot to do with where to put a comma.  We started off with a sentence:

"Having eaten, the strong young cub scouts scattered everywhere."

In this sentence we see that the cub scouts have had a good meal and went their various ways to have fun.

So let us move the comma.

"Having eaten the strong, young cub scouts scattered everywhere."

Now we see that the youngest cub scouts have organized themselves and as they were starving decided to take down the older cub scouts and eat them.  Then they all ran off to have fun and play.

Let's move that comma again.

"Having eaten the strong young, cub scouts scattered everywhere."

Now we see the older cub scouts weren't waiting around to be killed, and instead sought out the young strong cub scouts and devoured them before running off to kayak.

This is too much fun, let's move that comma one more time.

"Having eaten the strong young cub, scouts scattered everywhere."

Now we see that the cub scouts have now murdered a young bear and eaten it.  They then scatter off to do their fun cub scout things.

So where you put the comma in a sentence can say so very much about what you are trying to convey.