How To Write Good: A Lightly Salted Guide to Stepping Up Your Wattpad Game.

Comma Chameleon

Commas are the bane of many writers. I'm sure you can guess that the previous part doesn't constitute a full disclosure on a comma's purpose and placement. I hope you don't mind that I'm not going to provide that here either.

I struggle with this as much as anyone. In my first pass I don't think about it. In the initial edit I'm too worried about continuity, characters, and tension to consider it, and after that I'm scrutinizing word choice, trimming for length, taking out redundancies... you get the picture. Commas are one of the last things to receive attention, and one of the most common to overlook.

Good news! There are a few fundamental uses for commas and they're not all that hard to remember.

1. Commas separate independent clauses in a sentence before the conjoining conjunction.

Anfortas the playwright penned his soliloquy with a masterful hand, yet no right-minded patron would give him their custom.

See, I TOLD you to read that last chapter. Independent clauses are joined by coordinating conjunctions, so-called because they link things that are similar or the same.

     for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

There are other kinds of conjunctions (supportive and correlative) but this is about commas so we'll sneak a peek at those later. Maybe.

2. Commas end an introductory phrase.

     While Hubert waited, Rasputin read Anfortas' entire soliloquy.

These introductions can be dependent clauses, and this use is the only time you'll separate those from the main body of the sentence with a comma.

3. Commas separate items in a set or series.

     Hubert yawned, clapped, danced, and picked his nose.

This is an easy one, and the one most people remember even if they forgot everything else about 4th grade English. That last comma, by the way, the one between "danced" and "and" is called an Oxford comma, because it's technically not necessary, but strongly encouraged by the smart kids.

4. Commas enclose non-essential clauses.

     Rasputin, who couldn't stand Hubert's dancing, left the room to read in peace.

This is another easy one, but less often corrected. In the above sentence, "who couldn't stand Hubert's dancing" only adds information and can be removed from the sentence without changing its meaning. It's referred to as a nonrestrictive clause and should be called out with commas.

Similarly, they separate appositives. An appositive is a word or phrase that renames a noun:

     Rasputin, a dance critic, left the room to read in peace.

And once again, a similar function, they separate a form of address from the rest of the sentence.

     "Rasputin, why do you despise me?" inquired Hubert.

5. Commas introduce quotations.

     Rasputin replied, "Because, you nittering fool, you've confused your appèl with your bamboleo!"

Nearly everyone knows this one, but it bears mentioning solely because there are subtleties and exceptions that can affect placement. 

Addendum: Comma splices are a no-no.

Finally, I want to note one specific case where commas are often used and shouldn't be. Most people know what a run-on sentence is, but most new writers think they can solve that problem with commas. This is called a comma splice, and it's a big, fat, hairy, glaring mistake:

     Rasputin closed the door behind him, he sat down to finish Anfortas' masterpiece.

No. Just, no. You can fix this by turning it into two sentences, or you can add an appropriate conjunction after the comma, but don't leave it like this and expect to be taken seriously.

I'm not going to cover additional uses unless I have to because I want to get through grammar and onto storytelling before this subject dries up my creative soul, but I strongly urge you to commit the above to memory and use this knowledge to make your prose more clear to your readers, and silence the grammar nazis, at least on this point.