#comma usage

510 words.

2 periods.

FIVE HUNDRED AND TEN WORDS.

A GRAND TOTAL OF TWO SENTENCES!

SIGNED BY DOZENS OF PEOPLE TO SET UP A TREATY AND AUTHORIZE LAND!!

Make sure your train cars are connected with commas!

Now we’ve come to a little discussed comma usage that I bet you’ve rarely, if ever, thought about: using a comma to separate two coordinating adjectives that modify the same noun.

Now without using industry jargon, that simply means you use a comma to separate two descriptive words that are referring to the same thing. Think of it as train cars. All of the cars in the middle of the train –…

When editing any document for my clients, the one comma-usage error that I encounter more than any other is the lack of a serial comma. While saying serial comma makes me hungry because I always think of Cornflakes when I say it, I still say it – all…the…time. Nothing drives me crazier as an editor and writer than a document, however big or small, that does not use the serial comma, also known as…

Show Don't Tell #13: Continuity and Context (and Commas)

Show Don’t Tell! That means I’m going to provide a bad writing example and show you how to fix it! (Otherwise known as: an absurd amount of notes on an absurdly short paragraph.) This time, let’s talk dialogue rules, context, and continuity errors. THE BEFORE PARAGRAPH “Don’t.” I put my hand on the barrel of the gun and she hesitates.(1)(2) Her hand shakes. “Why?” (3) I close my eyes. “I’m just…

Show Don't Tell #13: Continuity and Context (and Commas)

Show Don’t Tell! That means I’m going to provide a bad writing example and show you how to fix it! (Otherwise known as: an absurd amount of notes on an absurdly short paragraph.) This time, let’s talk dialogue rules, context, and continuity errors. THE BEFORE PARAGRAPH “Don’t.” I put my hand on the barrel of the gun and she hesitates.(1)(2) Her hand shakes. “Why?” (3) I close my eyes. “I’m just…