My 200th Grammar Glitch Post! Commas, Commas, Commas!

I'm treating myself to a virtual torte this morning in honor of my 200th Grammar Glitch post. Please enjoy a virtual slice with today's post, and thank you to all my regular readers.

If you have a question or a topic you'd like covered, please let me know. As you can see, I never lack for ideas, but I am ALWAYS glad to respond to a specific inquiry.

Today, I'm going to highlight some comma problems that appeared in the current issue of 280Living http://www.280living.com/.

1. A good rule of thumb for comma usage is to set off any introductory phrase or clause that is more than three words long. Here is an example sentence:

According to Chelsea High School art teacher Max Newton over 400 art pieces were entered from local Southeastern states.

The subject of this sentence is "over 400 art pieces," and the reader must plow through nine words to find the subject. A comma definitely helps with that process by pointing out where the subject is. The sentence should read this way:

According to Chelsea High School art teacher Max Newton, over 400 art pieces were entered from local Southeastern states.

2. If you insert an ING phrase after the subject and before the verb (especially if you also add a phrase like "at first"), set the phrase off front AND back with a comma. Here is an example sentence:

His mom Sue being a nurse at first was skeptical about the correlation of his spinal structural compromises coinciding with Jacob's symptoms.

In repairing this sentence, I set off the ING phrase with commas (front AND back), and I also moved the "at first" phrase to a better location. I also reversed the word "Jacob's" and its pronoun "his" so that the reader knows who Jacob is before "his" refers back to him. Whew! Lots of repairs here! The sentence should read as follows:

His mom Sue, being a nurse, was skeptical at first about the correlation of Jacob's spinal structural compromises coinciding with his symptoms.

3. It is important to use commas in the logical places for pauses in a sentence. Here is an example sentence that puts the comma way too early:

Unfortunately, for the conference another unlikely scenario could be worse than last season....

The phrase that should be set off before the subject here is "Unfortunately for the conference," NOT just the word "unfortunately." The subject is "another unlikely scenario." The sentence should read this way:

Unfortunately for the conference, another unlikely scenario could be worse than last season....

4. Finally, when you set off a phrase or clause WITHIN clause (rather than at the beginning), it is important to use a comma AT THE BEGINNING and another comma AT THE END of what is set off. Look at these two sentence examples:

John Calipari, after leaving Memphis has a new stable of freshman who are very skilled....

Mississippi State is another team that has a slim chance and, in my opinion would be a good representative for the conference.

In both sentences, the writer has inserted a comma at the BEGINNING of an inserted phrase but failed to insert another comma at the END of the inserted phrase.

BONUS POINT: If you have a whole stable full of them, the word should be FRESHMEN (plural).

These sentences should read as follows:

John Calipari, after leaving Memphis, has a new stable of freshmen who are very skilled....

Mississippi State is another team that has a slim chance and, in my opinion, would be a good representative for the conference.

Have a great day, everyone! And thanks for reading.