Commas can be troubling things. In legal proceedings, in writing, and in publishing. Apparently we’re going to have a debate over a comma in the upcoming Trump trials.
In his book, So Help Me God, Mike Pence is quoted as saying, “You know, I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome…”. Pence has supposedly told Jack Smith’s prosecutors that the comma shouldn’t have been placed after “you know.”
Certainly it changes the meaning.
Smith’s indictment apparently takes Pence’s word over his published, supposedly proofread, account and removed the comma.
I hope this will just be a sideshow. Let’s leave debates about commas to all things Oxford.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 