Comma, Comma, Comma, Comma, Comma Chameleon

Despite the awesome title of this article, the lowly comma is not actually a chameleon. It can not do the work of a period, a colon, a semicolon or a conjunction.

I’m a man without conviction; I’m a man who doesn’t know

How to sell a contradiction. You come and go, you come and go.

(You are SO welcome for the earworm!)

The Comma Splice - No.

You probably don’t do this; most of us had this drilled out of us in English class. But you might not be aware of what you’re naturally not doing, and that is: combining two distinct sentences with only a comma. If, on both sides of your comma, you have a complete sentence with a noun and verb and whatever extras, you need to separate them with more than a comma.

(X) He said I could, I decided not to.

These are two distinct sentences. They could each stand on their own. They would both be grammatically correct if they each ended with a period.

(✓) He said I could. I decided not to.

That may sound a little terse though, a little stilted. This would be a great place for a conjunction (joining word) followed by your comma.

He said I could, but I decided not to.

He said I could, then I decided not to.

He said I could, and I decided not to.

Okay… caveat: sometimes, when the sentences are really short and simple you can omit the comma and you won’t be wrong (you can omit the comma, and you won’t be wrong). 

(✓) He said I could and I decided not to.

The semicolon - try it!

If you have two complete sentences and you don’t want to use a conjunction, this is the place for your semicolon! (Didn’t you always wonder what that thing was for?)

(✓) He said I could; I decided not to. 

The semicolon is more stop-py than a comma, but less stop-py than a period.

I often get tripped up when joining two complete sentences, and/but not wanting to use either conjunction “and” nor “but.” Years of coaching have eradicated “but;” years of improv makes me eyeroll “yes and.” So I bail completely and go with the semicolon:

(✓) I’m not a business coach; I have had the benefit of a lot of business coaching.

(Interesting fact: Project Semicolon is a mental health advocacy group that has adopted this punctuation mark as its symbol for survivors of suicide and suicidal ideation, because “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve ended their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you, and the sentence is your life.” I love this metaphor, and I always use this punctuation mark with intention and respect.)

Another semicolon use is when your conjunctions are more complicated than your basic “and...”

My 20-year-old overdoes it with the howevers. Why not? It bumps up the word count, and isn’t that what undergrads are all about? 

(X) “I like to think of it as opening the box of a poem however I am now forced to look at the tropes and figures of speech in this poem and close the box and look at it from the outside.”

He’s missing a semicolon and a few commas. (And not fooling anyone with the self-aware, outside the box, poem analysis bullshit.)

(✓) “I like to think of it as opening the box to a poem; however, I am now forced to look at the tropes and figures of speech in this poem, or close the box, and look at it from the outside.” 

The whole ‘however’ stuff is important but more detail than I want to get into, so I’m going to let Grammar Girl explain it, and frankly, you can skip this whole section if you’re bored.

“Finally, you use a semicolon when you use a conjunctive adverb or transitional phrase to join two main clauses. Conjunctive adverbs are words such as “however,” “therefore,” and “indeed.” Here’s an example of how you could use them with semicolons:

“I have a big test tomorrow; therefore, I can’t go out tonight.”

A transitional phrase is something like “for example” or “in other words.” A sentence with a transitional phrase could read like this:

“I have a big test tomorrow; as a result, I can’t go out tonight.”

TL:DR… Short conjunction - little comma; long conjunction - hefty semicolon.

Comma Clarity - Yes

Commas are super-helpful in long sentences with lots of complex clauses to help your reader’s brain ‘take a breath’. I’m not fussy about Grade 11 English rules. Clarity (aka reader brain ease) is my over-riding rule.

From my own website:

“Before I commit to a word, sentence, headline or even what goes in that little call-to-action button, I think about how your reader will hear it, if it will land, whether it’s clear, true and accurate, and whether it’s on brand, in your voice and of your spirit.”

Someobody somewhere will insist that my punctuation is wrong. But, it’s a long sentence and easy enough to follow because the commas show you where to pause. It’s basically one idea: “Before I blah blah blah // I think about yada yada yada” with commas separating the sections (underlined bits), and the lists (bracketed bits).”

“Before I commit to // a (word, sentence, headline) or even what goes in that little call-to-action button)//, I think about // how your reader will hear it, if it will land, whether it’s (clear, true and accurate), and whether it’s (on brand, in your voice and of your spirit).”

That sentence is basically a list of lists. Which brings us to:

The Oxford Comma - Maybe!

All that fuss about one comma. You end a list with a final ‘and’. Do you put a comma before it or not?!?

(✓) “Inside his backpack I found an old train ticket, a mashed-up assignment, some girl’s phone number and last week’s sandwich.”

Also (✓)  “Inside his backpack I found an old train ticket, a mashed-up assignment, some girl’s phone number, and last week’s sandwich.”

When I edit, it comes down to the writer’s preference and voice. I feel that if you want to come across as hip and casual, you leave out the Oxford Comma; whereas, if you know your reader is old-school, academic, and considers life devoid of meaning without the Oxford Comma, you keep it in.

Sometimes…. not often, but sometimes…. the Oxford Comma will save a sentence;

And you know me: Clarity is Rule #1.

Need a Word Nerd or the Grammar Police to look over an important piece of writing (one who won’t strip away all that fabulous personality)? Book a writing sprint with me. We’ll clean it up all nice and shiny-like while letting your distinct voice and style shine through.