What a great response!    ;-)

Thanks everyone.


>From: "Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar              
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: how to punctuate this
>Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 22:43:55 -0500
>
>Sorry about the misattribution.  It was, of course, Bruce's analysis I was 
>agreeing with.
>
>Herb
>
>       -----Original Message-----
>       From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Bruce 
>Despain
>       Sent: Thu 8/5/2004 9:37 AM
>       To: [log in to unmask]
>       Cc:
>       Subject: Re: how to punctuate this
>
>
>       Christine,
>
>       It is hard to disagree with Herb.  One little observation, however.  I 
>think something needs to be said about the possibility that "what" in an 
>exclamative is a modifier of the article.  I am more comfortable with the 
>exclamative being a full NP.  This would make "what a paradox" parallel to 
>"many a paradox."  The full form would be "What a paradox (it is)!" rather 
>than "What (is) a paradox" (! for ?) or "What a paradox (is is)," which 
>both seem vapid at best.  (These last two involve the so-called headless 
>relative, which I prefer to call the indefinite noun clause.)
>
>       Bruce
>
>       >>> [log in to unmask] 8/5/2004 8:21:13 AM >>>
>
>       Christine,
>
>       I like your second version.  The problem with the first is that it makes a 
>difference what the subject of "is" is, to paraphrase a well-known Rhodes 
>Scholar.  Grammatically, the sujbect has to be "a paradox", and what's 
>within commas is an appositive.  However, "a paradox" is also the 
>complement of "what" in an exclamatory sentence.  Exclamations beginning 
>with wh-words typically lack verbs, just "what" + NP.  So "a paradox" is 
>being asked to play to grammatical roles at once, something that doesn't 
>usually work well.  The reader is tempted to make "the Internet" the 
>subject, but then the sentence becomes a comma splice.
>
>       Herb
>
>
>
>           Dear Group,
>
>           How should this be punctuated?
>
>           What a paradox, the Internet, the very cutting edge of communication
>           technology, is creating an anti-social society.
>
>           What a paradox! The Internet, the very cutting edge of communication
>           technology, is creating an anti-social society.
>
>           Christine Martin
>
>

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