Do you know what my problem with misplaced commas is? It’s that, while I’m reading text in my head, I can’t help taking a pause where the comma indicates, yet my brain knows that it’s wrong. Sort of the same way I have to ‘read’ the misspelling definately as def-i-NATE-ly. (English-writing wordsmiths of the world: it is spelled definitely. Definitely. Think of the word finite. De-finite-ly.)

Anyway, two incorrect comma usages which are like nails on a blackboard to me are commas placed before verbs and before the word that.

The former is most often a case, I believe, of sentences getting out of control. I think we would all agree that a sentence should read Subject verb. and not Subject, verb. (Think I ran. versus I, ran.) But when you start loading up that subject with a bunch of extra words, things can get pretty confusing by the time you get around to picking a verb. So it’s a case of comma-as-crutch, really. You’re basically saying, ‘Hey, we’re all confused by this sentence. So here’s a comma -– let’s take a breather and come back when we’re ready to continue.’

After the first installment of this grammar series, it seemed like there were a lot of people commenting on the usage of semi-colons. And not in a ‘gosh, those semi-colons are confusing little beasts’ way but in more of an ‘I sure love semi-colons; they are the best!’ way. That’s because people who know how to correctly use a semi-colon love to do so; they want to make sure everybody knows of their great skill. And that is because people who know how to correctly use a semi-colon are superior human beings. That’s a fact. A science fact.

Fear not, intrepid writer -- you too can easily learn to wield the semi-colon with confidence, and then you will become more desirable to the mate of your choosing.

Life would be so much easier if we didn’t have to, like, talk to people. Both in writing and in real life. (Ha, ha! Only kidding! I’m not a recluse who works from home and avoids exposure to the burning Day Star!) Here are a few tips for addressing and referring to people in text.

When you (or your characters, in dialogue) speak to somebody, the convention is to put a comma before the name. For example: Go to the bakery and get me a chocolate-glazed donut, Rob. This is an issue of clarity -- and a fairly important one, as a missing comma can often turn the preceding words into a string of adjectives describing the person’s name. That is, you switch from talking to somebody to talking about him. And I don’t think the bakery makes a donut Rob, much less one with chocolate icing.

I had one really great English teacher in high school and several excellent professors in college, all of whom drove home the importance of proper grammar and punctuation. I’m so lucky to get the chance to work with authors who put together amazing stories that are, for the most part (like… 98.5%) really well written. I don’t have to do a lot of ‘heavy lifting’ when it comes to editing; I’m able to focus mainly on punctuation and issues of clarity. I hope our authors won’t mind me saying this, but as good as they are with words, I add and remove a LOT of commas. I make a LOT of tiny little changes to things that appear, I presume, because not everybody had those teachers and professors that made prescriptive grammar a priority.

So I’m going to write a series of posts here with pointers on the errors I see most frequently. Not just to make my life easier, should any of our authors take these tips to heart, but because the world is just a prettier place with proper punctuation. (But alliteration sort of gets on one’s nerves.)

The best place to start is the error I see most often: commas missing from compound sentences – and commas used to splice sentences that are NOT compound.