Comma Usage Explained

Written by Michael LaRocca


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If you'd like, you can look over some sentences inrepparttar preceding paragraphs. You'll note some commas where they're not strictly necessary. Often, it's where I begin a sentence with a conjunction, also an alleged no-no. But that device can be used sparingly to emphasize a point. And when I do that, sometimes I whip in a comma for extra emphasis. A comma is a pause. That's what you should note if you indulge in this exercise. I'm pausing for emphasis. Read my sentences aloud. Pause at every comma. The rhythm works. It's how I talk, and you won't be all freaked out and confused as you listen because I paused in funny places.

Speaking as an editor, I run into a lot of writers who have problems with commas. Heck, speaking as someone who likes to read books and newspapers and magazines, I see commas where they shouldn't be, or missing commas where they should be. It's because we're trying to be too fancy, drifting dangerously far fromrepparttar 129044 "write what you know" mantra because we think we're stupid.

We're not stupid. As Sean Connery noted in FINDING FORRESTER, critics spend a day destroying what they couldn't create in a lifetime. That's also what I think of people who want us to memorize hundreds of silly rules about commas. They're pauses. Nothing more, nothing less. Pause where you want to pause, not where you think someone else thinks you're supposed to pause.

Wanna know who'srepparttar 129045 best at this whole comma business? Sports journalists. Some of them make up words, are given to hyperbole, and are guilty of many other sins. But they get their commas right. (Maybe they have good editors?) You can read what they wrote and dang near hear their voices. You know what they said and what they meant to say, and you can agree with them or be totally outraged by them.

And that is, after all, what writing is. Telepathy. I'm in Shaoxing and you are not, and you're reading this many days after I wrote it, but you know what I'm thinking. Stray commas would be a barrier to that. Good writers don't like barriers.

Just remember that a comma is a pause, and pause wherever you think you should. Blow offrepparttar 129046 rules--there are too many and they just keep changing--and trust your gut. If you do that, I think you'll find that when you seek out publication, and find yourself working with an editor, you'll hear very little about your commas.

Michael LaRocca's website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published four novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.


Documenting Everything: Your Journal is Your Logbook

Written by Stephen Earley Jordan, II


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3. Mood: What's going on in your head? Did you just get offrepparttar phone with your ex-lover who ruined your day and sank you intorepparttar 129042 depths of depression? Write about it. Did you manage to pull off some wondrous passive-aggressive revenge against said ex-lover? Write about that too and how it made you feel.

4. Events: Here's where things get a bit complicated - for some. You have to do your homework. Watch television, readrepparttar 129043 newspaper and write a few lines about what's going on in your city, state, country orrepparttar 129044 world in general.

5. Freewrite: Here's your chance to shine. Since we're all writers, we should leave a section for freewriting. Allow yourself some space to simply write aimlessly without direction. But, here'srepparttar 129045 challenge - try to limit yourself to a certain number of lines.

When you keep these entries for a week, two weeks or a longer period of time, it can be extremely beneficial. Comparing and contrastingrepparttar 129046 Mondays or Tuesdays could be a surprising learning experience.

Many times I've written stories and wanted to "know" what 78 degrees felt like, so I went to my journal and found an entry, read my mood descriptions and weather descriptions and was easily informed from my own documentation.

Keep in mind, a good writer documents everything - whether it be on paper or just inrepparttar 129047 mind's filing cabinet. But, to keep things in order, try to keep your documentation on paper - or at least saved to disk.



Stephen Jordan, of NYC, has five years experience within the educational publishing industry. Stephen holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees in writing and literature from Alderson-Broaddus College of Philippi, West Virginia. Available for reprint. Please contact author so he can keep track of where his articles are being used. Editor@OutStretch.net


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