Why Punctuation Matters

Dear Karin,

I’ve been wondering about your “grammar” comment. I’m hoping you’ll explain it.

In the meantime, I wanted to point out that the title of your recent post actually needs a comma – that is, if it’s to mean what I assume you intended it to mean. You wrote “Move over Hillary.” As it is currently written, it means to move in such a manner as to position yourself (“you” is the implied subject of an imperative sentence) so that “you” are over Hillary. I don’t think you meant for anyone in your readership to position themselves over Hillary.

It should read, “Move over, Hillary.” This could be rearranged to say, “Hillary, move over.”

In either case the sentence is imperative. It is a command.

The difference is that without a comma, as you wrote it, the implied “you” is the subject. “You” are being told to do the moving. “Hillary” is then the object of a prepositional phrase, in which “over” is the preposition. The prepositional phrase “over Hillary” functions as an adverb, telling “you” where “you” should move.

In the corrected version, “Hillary” is the subject and the one being told to do the moving. The word “over” is an adverb, telling Hillary where she should move.

One comma makes a huge difference.

Sincerely,
The Defensive Grammarian