: Re: Using comma splices in dialogue At university, it was drilled into us to avoid comma splices like the plague, but I keep seeing them in all different types of famous, best-selling novels. I

I wouldn't use all of them, but I'd definitely use some, and mostly for the reasons you pointed out. Dialogue doesn't have to be grammatically correct; really, it probably shouldn't be grammatically correct, most of the time (since most of the time people don't speak in grammatically correct ways).

So in dialogue, instead of using punctuation to follow grammar rules, I think it should be used to indicate the manner of speaking. So if an author is trying to represent the sort of pause that is best represented by a comma, then the author should use the comma, regardless of grammar.

For the record, of the examples you posted, I think I'd change:

"I'm not going" (probably semi-colon, maybe em-dash, maybe even a period);

and

"I'm warning you" (colon, for added drama).

The others I'd leave as commas splices. But it depends on how the author hears the words being spoken, of course.

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: Re: Using comma splices in dialogue At university, it was drilled into us to avoid comma splices like the plague, but I keep seeing them in all different types of famous, best-selling novels. I

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