Writing and Grammar

Commas

The biggest mistake I often see is comma usage. To help correct this issue, I'll give some sample sentences with the incorrect and correct versions.

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INCORRECT: "His sister Jenny didn't want to eat her spaghetti with a spoon."

CORRECT: "His sister, Jenny, didn't want to eat her spaghetti with a spoon."

Keep in mind this only works if he has one sister.

If he has more than one sister, you would not include the commas, so it would look like this:

"His sister Jenny didn't want to eat her spaghetti with a spoon."

Doing this helps clarify which sister is being referred to.

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INCORRECT: "I like baking my friends and throwing pumpkins."

CORRECT: "I like baking, my friends, and throwing pumpkins."

Whenever you list three or more items, please, please, PLEASE use commas. Otherwise, the sentence becomes jumbled and confusing.

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INCORRECT: "However she only wanted to throw pie at the little elf."

CORRECT: "However, she only wanted to throw pie at the little elf."

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INCORRECT: "The monster under her bed was frightened of the little girl, because she had a pink teddy bear."

CORRECT: "The monster under her bed was frightened of the little girl because she had a pink teddy bear."

I've seen too many stories with a comma before every "because."

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INCORRECT: "The burly purple man jogged to his dull boring apartment."

CORRECT: "The burly, purple man jogged to his dull, boring apartment."

Whenever you have two adjectives next to each other, separate them with a comma.

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INCORRECT: "Bobby Boo storming out of the room yelled over his shoulder."

CORRECT: "Bobby Boo, storming out of the room, yelled over his shoulder."

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INCORRECT: "Yes I have cupcakes. No they aren't for you."

CORRECT: "Yes, I have cupcakes. No, they aren't for you."

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INCORRECT: "If you want to make liver stew you need a witch's cauldron."

CORRECT: "If you want to make liver stew, you need a witch's cauldron."

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INCORRECT: "Jenny Higgleton walked inside and she shut the door."

CORRECT: "Jenny Higgleton walked inside, and she shut the door."

A comma is needed to separate these two clauses because "Jenny Higgleton walked inside" and "She shut the door" are independent clauses (i.e., they can be separate sentences).

Now, pay close attention to the next two sentence samples. (They will be similar to the above sample but slightly different.)

INCORRECT: "Jenny Higgleton walked inside, and shut the door."

CORRECT: "Jenny Higgleton walked inside and shut the door."

Notice I left out "she," which no longer creates two independent clauses, so no comma is needed.