Punctuation matters

For our grad students who are beginning to launch into some more serious writing, I offer this recent NY Times column by Ben Yagoda, The Most Comma Mistakes. You might also enjoy his Fanfare for the Comma Man. He does a great job illustrating how punctuation matters, with examples like this:

"a Federal District Court ruling invalidating the District of Columbia’s gun ban (subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court) held that “the second comma divides the amendment into two clauses: one ‘prefatory’ and the other ‘operative.’"

Be careful.