Interpunktion

In German, commas are placed anatomically at the grammatical joints of the sentence, and there is little freedom as to where and where not to put them. In English, the grammatical structure articulates itself, and the commas strengthen the subdivisions here and there at the pleasure of the writer, much as a woman will comment on her figure by placing accents as she sees it.

Rudolf Arnheim, Parables of Sun Light, 111.