Ten Most Common Errors Made by Writers: #9

From the Editor’s Eye
The 10 Most Common Errors Made by Writers
(And How to Fix Them)

The second of a ten-part series.

#9. Commagain? Oxford Comma, Comma Splice & Dialogue Punchuating Bag

The comma, the plow horse of punctuation, has several uses. This piece addresses three of the them: in a series (the serial or Oxford comma), as a comma splice, and when punctuating dialogue.

Commatose

As copy editor for the San Diego Reader, I witnessed a shouting match between a fellow copy editor and the...