Describe something about grammar that confuses you – could be a rule, a question – whatever. Give an example. My general style of writing is rather conversational and very informal. I write like I speak. My written thoughts make perfect sense when spoken. Proper pauses and inflections keep things flowing. Translating the same ideas into written words can be tricky. A reader is likely to stumble when reading sentences where I have interjected quirky thoughts or appositives simply because I am unsure of comma placement. For example, take the previous sentence. Should a comma come before “simply because”? Or is the sentence fine as is? Oh, commas….
Curse Microsoft Word Grammar and Spell Check for making young people today so dependent on those red and green squiggles. Until I get a firmer handle on commas, I think I will continue resorting to the use of dashes. They seem less intimidating to me, I suppose.
Comma usage is a truly slippery slope, and I wonder if anyone will ever be able to reach the summit.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_comma.html
Purdue has done it again! The above link provides some grade-A pointers on the many dos and don’ts of comma usage. It even goes so far as to give examples of correct and incorrect comma usage in many of those oh-so-tricky situations, acknowledging that “The rules provided [on the site] are those found in traditional handbooks; however, in certain rhetorical contexts and for specific purposes, [the] rules may be broken.” The site is easy to understand, and it includes (within the text) links to other potentially perplexing grammar issues.
This “Brief, No-Nonsense Guide to Comma Usage” lives up to its title. The site is organized into seven sections covering the “Seven Primary Uses of The Comma.” Each section is formatted to be easily understood and to maximize helpfulness. While this site is not as thorough as the site Purdue’s OWL offers on comma usage, it still offers several helpful tips in a humorous context.
4 comments:
I really liked your blog about the commas. I have the same problem in that I usually just put commas everywhere because it feels right to me. I was actually revising a paper the other day for someone and in every paragraph I found at least two places where I thought a comma should have been. This caused me to wonder where the commas are actually suppose to go, and where I should thought they were suppose to go.
Generally when I write I just place the commas where there seems to be a break or a pause in the sentence as well, and so far this strategy has worked well for me.
Hmm. The comma, an interesting choice. I guess I never really thought about if I was using it correctly in my writing. Usually whenever I am writing I just kind of put the comma where I think it goes. Most of the time I dont even think about it anymore, I just do it. Im not not exactly sure if i'm even using them properly anymore. I always just put them where I think they go. Im sure I probably have been using them improperly.
I thought that the first link was very informative. It refreshes my memory on how I should really use the comma. And i havent forgotten how to use them completely, so that was good to see. I guess they just become habit sometimes and in your writing you dont think about it anymore. Atleast thats how i feel about it.
Commas are a tricky point for me as well. Basically the only time I know for sure how to use them is with appositives, when you can read a sentence without the section offset by commas and it still makes sense, otherwise...I, like the rest of you it seems, just put them where it feels right or sounds right to me. Also, the links you provided were excellent, especially the first one. It was informative and helpful, I thought.
Your blog about the comma is very informative and helped me to understand the appropriate time to use one. I think that many people have this same problem but don't take the time to see how it is supposed to be used and just guess and when and where they are supposed to use them.
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