“Put commas where you take a pause,” our teachers used to say.
The comma splice and Oxford comma never came our way.
Now, looking up advice online on commas and the rest,
the rules to shape our formless phrases seem much more complex.
I sought them out. I wrote them down: two posts, then three, then four.
But common sense applied to these suggests that less is more.
Why add pedantic commas if a sentence is concise?
So, when in doubt just leave it out, is my revised advice.
Writing Wrinkles, and Random Ramblings 
Hello Cathy. I’ve been out of school for so long, I barely remember grammar rules. I try to write in ways that sound natural to my ear.
Neil Scheinin
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Exactly! When I was at school there was no National Curriculum, so when I changed schools aged ten, my new class was parsing sentences and I hadn’t the foggiest idea what THAT was all about.
I find, if I leave my writing till next day to read again it usually becomes clear when I’ve got the punctuation wrong.
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I sometimes seem to run out of them, commas, that is, perhaps it is a form of frugality, I use them sparingly. I have resolved to use commas more often, not to become reckless but a responsible commarist. I have however learned a lot from these posts, fascinated as ever by the English language, how it changes and evolves.
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I’m pleased yu have found them useful; I’ve certanly learned a lot. Thanks for reading, and commenting
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My students liked to scatter them throughout their writings with no particular purpose. Always amused me.
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I recognise that!
Also the writer who gets so carried away that commas and periods get forgotten altogether. Would that I could find such enthusiasm for my stories…
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And the ones emulating e.e. cummings and ignoring capitalization because “he did.”
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I enjoy, use, and love all of my Oxford commas! I am confused when one is missing, absent and omitted.
But I must say their absence is never as disturbing as apostrophe’s that don’t belong in plural noun’s. These can be seen all too often on handmade advertising sign’s in our local store’s!
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Sadly, I wrote a blog post about apostrophes, edited it several times and, on reading it when it arrived in my email Inbox, found a grocer’s apostrophe in there. (Of course, I had to edit the post and add a reference to my ‘deliberate mistake’.)
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Sneaky apostrophes!
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Good save! I like the poem and it’s true. Some editors are comma inserters, some are comma removers. You can’t win!
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I’ve always been pretty good with grammar, but it really is getting more complicated. After wasting several minutes googling this a few days ago, I wrote in a cover letter that I’m “twenty-five years old” but later referenced that the theses I’ve edited included “75 pages of text.” Didn’t look right to type “25 years old” or “seventy-five pages of text.” Oh, well!
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I know what you mean. I tend to put all numbers in words now if it’s less than three figures.
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