Watch Those Commas

The comma has become much misused by authors in the twenty-first century. It is sprinkled throughout run-on sentences and dropped hither and yon in shorter sentences. One can find the comma in many places it shouldn’t be; places where a period or semi-colon would work much better. The poor comma has no say in where it’s dropped and often protests by creating a grammar error for the author to see and possibly change to the correct usage.
First, let’s examine the usage for a comma, direct from Oxford Dictionary:
“A comma marks a slight break between different parts of a sentence. Used properly, commas make the meaning of a sentence clear by group and separating words, phrases, and clauses.
They’re often “sprinkled” throughout the written word without the user having an understanding of their purpose.”
This is very simple and extremely clear definition of the use of a comma. One should be able to read it and immediately understand how a comma should or should not be used, and yet we have individuals placing commas in places they don’t belong.
For instance, between a subject and a verb, which thereby, disrupts the sentence and creates confusion in the mind of the reader? The subject and verb must remain together. They complement each other. The reader sees who and what without having to wonder if who and what belong to two different areas of the story.
Take for example the ever popular meme: strippers, Kennedy, and Putin. As can be seen in the picture, one can derive the meaning of this phrase two ways. If the second comma is taken out, the image on the bottom is what most people visualize. With the proper use of the Oxford comma, the reader understands the message being portrayed.




Now, to use the same example with a subject and verb. The first image shows what a reader is seeing when they see this passage: Girl, falls into the water.


As with the strippers, JFK and Putin, Girl, falls into the water demonstrates how a reader perceives our misuse of a comma.
Finding out if you’ve used a comma correctly is as simple as a less than one second internet search. There are many resources that will assist you with this problem but you should depend on the tried and true sites such as CMOS (Chicago Manual of Style) or Oxford. They are generally more factual.



Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.  


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