| By :
Heather Todd
Writing a document is easy, but editing it can be difficult for most. Following a few basic guidelines when you are editing your document, or while editing a document for other will make the process less challenging. While following guidelines from William Strunk JR. and E.B. White's "The Elements of Style", we have compiled 7 comma mistakes and examples of proper comma placement. 1. Form the possessive of singular nouns by adding 's, unless it is the possessive of an ancient proper name. For example: James's house Moses' laws 2. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. This is often referred to as the "serial comma." For example: apples, bananas, and oranges purple, yellow, and red 3. Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. For example: My brother, Johnathan Smith, is a well-renowned police officer. While we were on our way to New York, a tiring drive, to say the least, we stopped many times to enjoy the scenery. 4. Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause. For example: The road was slippery, but we continued to drive to the movie theatre. The house was a beautiful sight, and the gardens were absolutely magnificent. 5. Do not break sentences in two. Basically, do not use periods for commas. For example: Incorrect: She was an interesting talker. A woman who had traveled all over the world and lived in half a dozen countries. Correct: She was an interesting talker, a woman who traveled all over the world and lived in half a dozen countries. 6. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation. For example: Lisa's grocery list contained a mere three important items: bread, milk, and eggs. 7. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break of interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary. For example: His first thought on getting out of bed—if he had any thought at all—was to get back in again. By no means are these seven items an exhaustive list of things to look out for while writing and editing; however, they're definitely a good place to start. I will be sure to revisit this topic again in a future blog to highlight more items to take note of during the editing process.
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