Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has so far directed that two separate emails be sent out to his staff with explicit directions on proper comma usage and many examples, according to a Wednesday CNN report.
“The administration is committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace agreement, and remains optimistic that progress can be made,” one example reads, with the comma highlighted. “No comma when single subject with compound predicate,” the email says.
Pompeo is reportedly a fan of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Per CNN, having a grammatical pet peeve comes with the territory for secretaries of state. Colin Powell had a font fascination, while Condoleezza Rice had margin mania.
Grammar is fluid, Pompeo is a idiot.
Does he also comment on drumps speaking/tweets?
But where does he stand on the Oxford Comma
“The administration is committed to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace agreement, and remains optimistic that progress can be made.”
The reason the writer put the comma in was to help the reader parse the “…and…and…” mess. Perfectly sensible. Of course, the sentence involves an awkward multiple conjunction of cliches and should be re-written anyway.
Similarly, although fonts and margin size are not grammar (either), they’re relevant to visual parsing of text. It’s not hard to understand how people who have to read through piles of the stuff would want some minimal standards of clarity. Even mass murderers have to work within the human perceptual and cognitive system…
That’s the best thing I’ve heard about Pompeo. It may be his greatest achievement at the State Department.
I’m kinda Team Pompeii on his his one. I can’t stand getting a letter/correspondence from a business with typos or spelling errors. I think a department like his should expect and demand better standards. Wish there was someone like that in the White House.