“I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.”

—  Oscar Wilde

Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

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Irish writer and poet 1854–1900

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“He picked out this sentence in a New Yorker casual of mine: "After dinner, the men moved into the living room," and he wanted to know why I, or the editors, had put in the comma. I could explain that one all night. I wrote back that this particular comma was Ross's way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up.”

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Variant: From one casual of mine he picked this sentence. “After dinner, the men moved into the living room.” I explained to the professor that this was Ross’s way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up. There must, as we know, be a comma after every move, made by men, on this earth.

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