How a missing comma cost this company $5 million
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Hi Reader, A missing comma can prove expensive. I came across a fun story on BBC about a Portland-based dairy company that got into financial straits over a grammatical omission. Three lorry drivers for Oakhurst Dairy took the company to court, claiming it owed them years of unpaid overtime wages. The state’s laws said overtime wasn’t due for workers involved in, “the canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: 1) agricultural produce; 2) meat and fish products; and 3) perishable foods”. The drivers successfully argued because the legalese had no comma after the word “shipment” and before “or distribution”, Oakhurst dairy owed them overtime. On the other hand, if a comma existed between both words, the law would have ruled out workers who distribute perishable foods. The company settled the court case for a whopping $5m because of a missing comma. Yes, commas matter, particularly if you’re drafting anything legalese, academic, or certain types of journalism. But what about if you’re writing online? Spending hours sweating every sentence and paragraph before pressing publish isn’t always a great use of time. For most online writers, publishing more content is more effective. Give that article or piece of content a quick pass, review a simple self-editing checklist, and move on to another piece of content. Other types of writers stick two fingers to grammar nazis. Copywriters regularly break grammatical rules because their copy flows or reads better. They’re more interested in the conversions, not 100% scores in a grammar-checking app. Literary and popular fiction authors break these rules as well. Read anything by Stephen King, Sally Rooney, or James Patterson, and you’ll find dangling modifiers, missing dialogue attributions, and errant commas. I edit my emails once or twice before I press send. But writing daily emails means the occasional ttypo slips in (whoops!) Sometimes, readers write to me when I use British rather than American English. But, I realised a while ago it’s best to learn the basic rules of grammar and then break them when it matters. Or should I say realized for my American readers… So, how can you find the balance between perfect grammar and readable copy or content? That’s a topic I cover more in my upcoming live workshop. It’s called Master Self-Editing. This live 90-minute workshop takes place on Thursday 14th November at 1500 GMT+1/10 AM EST. If you buy a ticket and can’t make it live, I’ll send you a recording. ​Register now​ Write on, Bryan Collins |