16 APRIL 1942, Page 14

ENGLISH PROSE

Sta,—Professor Namier's admirable advice on the writing of English prose contains no reference to one most important point—the correct use of punctuation. One particularly unfortunate practice is becoming general —that of failing to insert a comma when the subject is changed within the sentence, e.g., (from the writing of an eminent novelist) "she had recovered her poise and her regard was clear and happy," where the omission of the comma after " poise " imposes a check in reading, and a repetition in reading aloud.—Yours faithfully,