The importance of punctuation

[happymum Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close happymum]

A trucker was getting ready to start on his next run, but didn't want to leave his very sick wife.
"Give me the places where you will be staying each night and I'll send a telegram if I need you to come home," she said.
Two days later, she sent the telegram, "Not getting any better, come home."
When the trucker received it, he was wondering why the delivery person had a slight smile on his face. The telegram read, "Not getting any, better come home."

[StressCadet Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close StressCadet]

A trucker was getting ready to start on his next run, but didn't want to leave his very sick wife.
"Give me the places where you will be staying each night and I'll send a telegram if I need you to come home," she said.
Two days later, she sent the telegram, "Not getting any better, come home."
When the trucker received it, he was wondering why the delivery person had a slight smile on his face. The telegram read, "Not getting any, better come home."

Read the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Pretty darn funny for a book about punctuation.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

So, in the last week we had this headline at CNN.com" "Toyota's Behaved Normally".

But the story doesn't say that the Toyota corporation has behaved normally. It's a story about assertions that Toyota automobiles did not act strangely.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

There is also a significant difference between "Engaging in sex, which is unhealthy, ..." and "Engaging in sex which is unhealthy …"