May | 28 | 2009

The Ubiquitous Comma

Posted by Jimmy as Tips, Writing

My day job involves monitoring and proofreading reports. While it is not the sole aspect of what I do, I find myself spending a considerable time doing this. And if there is one thing that I have learned in the past year, it is how to use the comma. Mind you, I am not saying that I think that we should follow the use of the comma to the letter. However, there are some instances wherein misuse of this simple punctuation can make a huge difference in meaning.

There are so many rules governing the use of the comma. However, I think that many of these rules are not really necessary when writing informally (as is the case when we write for blogs, most of the time). There is one rule, however, that I think we really should pay attention to. It is commonly known as the comma splice.

So what is a comma splice? Take a look at this:

I will go to work tomorrow, I will go shopping when I get off.

So what is wrong with that? I am sure that you understood the meaning. However, it looks awkward. In fact, what I did was to put two sentences together using a comma. This is what is called a comma splice. A better way of expressing that thought is:

I will go to work tomorrow. I will go shopping when I get off.

Alternatively, we can write:

I will go to work tomorrow, and I will go shopping when I get off.

Don’t the last two options look and sound better?

The idea is that if you have two or more sentences, do not combine (or splice) them using a comma. Instead, use a conjunction such as “and,” and put a comma before the conjunction. Better yet, just write two separate sentences!

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