I'm not going to the banquet[,] because I dislike Judy. The comma before "because" in this sentence means that I'm not going to the banquet. Period. The sole reason is that I dislike Judy. *In this sentence I *am not* going to the banquet. I'm not going to the banquet because I dislike Judy. Omission of the comma before "because" in this sentence says that I'm not going to the banquet because I dislike Judy; I am in fact going to the banquet, but for an unspecified reason altogether different. *In this sentence *I am* going to the banquet. Is this correct punctuation? Does the inclusion of the comma in the first sentence and the omission of the comma in the second sentence change each sentence's meaning due to the reasons I've outlined? Would you encourage this punctuation, or lack thereof, to represent the change in each sentence's meaning? Thank you.
I read your second example the opposite of the way you do. I think I'm not going to the banquet because I dislike Judy. means you're not going to the banquet, and it's because you dislike Judy. There may be other reasons, too. But you're not going to the banquet, that's for sure. It just seems more emphatic than the first version - it almost wants an exclamation point instead of a period. I can see how it can be read the other way, though. Maybe you should rephrase: I'm going to the banquet, but not because I dislike Judy.
To me they both read the same. In creative writing, you can use commas pretty much anywhere you want to signify a dramatic pause. So your first example would be correct in creative writing but not in formal writing.
I think less commas are better in general (for no particular reason), although I think I tend to use commas too much as it is, such as in this sentence, maybe. (?)
I don't like using too many commas either. If I can find an excuse to leave one out, I'll leave it out. I like a faster pace, and if a comma slows me down when I'm reading aloud, it goes.
In the following sentence, would you eliminate the comma after 'frankly' as I've done? Joseph hated the way his son treated strangers, and quite frankly I did too. And would you forgo the comma after 'fairness' below as I did? I admit that I made a bad call on the ball field, and in the interest of fairness I will reverse my decision. No comma after 'involved'? I admit that I made a bad call on the ball field, and in the interest of fairness to everyone involved I will reverse my decision.
There are several ways to handle this, @dillseed, and in my view, they'd all be acceptable. It depends on the tone you're aiming for. All of your examples in the post above are first-person; the question is, how does this person talk? Where does he put the pauses? Where does the character want the commas to be?
