Commas versus Comas

[riotheclown]

A comma is like a mini-stroke.

There are some who would sacrifice puppies to the Great God of Grammar and others who throw commas around willy-nilly in an orgy of improper punctuation.

I am learning, however, that there are uses for commas.   The difference between confusion and understanding can hang on a properly placed comma.

Use commas to separate items in a list.  Some people like the comma before an “and” in a series and some people do not.  For example:

 apples, oranges, and bananas   or     apples, oranges and bananas.     Just make a choice and stick with it.

 If there is a part of the sentence that is NOT ESSENTIAL to the meaning of the sentence separate it from the rest of the sentence with a comma. For example:

I’m thinking, which does happen occasionally, about punctuation.

 Words like, and, nor, for, and other transition words signal independent clauses needing a comma to separate them. For example:

  I hate learning proper grammar, but I know I need it to improve the effectiveness of my writing.

 Okay that is enough for now.  Come back next week and I will tell you another rule for commas.