Wine, Brownies, and Talks of Commas

When two writers meet, eventually the conversation turns toward grammar. It was not surprising that over some grilled meat and wine, that my mother-in-law and I talked about commas.

"I like the posts on grammar on Facebook," she offered.

In this picture- a comma saves people's lives!

"It's rabbit season!"

"No, it's pedestrian season!"

We began discussing the evolution of the use of a comma, and some of people's use or more importantly lack of use.

Example:

There is a bridge spanning the river from Davenport, Iowa, to Moline, Illinois.

Is there a new kind of grammar that allows us to write:

There is a bridge spanning the river from Davenport Iowa to Moline Illinois.

There are arguments on both sides ( I will take a stand that the first one is correct).

My wife's family and I drank "Barn Dance Red" red wine from Tabor Wineries, which is a winery in a century old farm near the small town of Baldwin, in Eastern Iowa. We ate chocolate brownies that were only made more delicious with the wine we were sipping.

The discussion turned to 'which' and 'that'. These are grammar rules that we were not taught but that spell checker on Microsoft Word often picks up. The rule is if you use the word 'that' you do not need a comma, but if you use the word 'which' you have to use a comma before the phrase it begins. An example is a sentence I already used.

"My wife's family and I drank "Barn Dance Red" red wine from Tabor Wineries, which is a winery in a century old farm near the small town of Baldwin, in Eastern Iowa."

We ended the discussion, and our wine with a final quandary. Why was Word so hung up on passive voice? There are sentences that just would not work any better way, so why does Word have to point out every instance. Sure, an active voice is important and more compelling, but can't we just relax and be passive sometimes? You know- sit and sip some red wine and pair it with some double fudge brownies?