Dear Shelly,
I spend a lot of time analyzing details such as: em dash or en dash? Are we consistently using or not using the Oxford comma? Come to think of it—why doesn’t everyone use the Oxford comma?
Am I the only one losing sleep over improperly placed apostrophes?
Sincerely,
— A Contemplative Copyeditor in Cleveland
Dear Contemplative,
Let me first send a big THANK YOU—even if all caps deviates from accepted AP Style.
Now, to actually answer your question: people don’t worry about those things. But only because they can defer to knowledgeable experts (such as yourself) who actually know what the heck a dangling participle is.
Whether or not they express their appreciation, readers and writers depend on you. Keep rounding up those stray commas!
Yours in punctuation,
Shelly
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