About those commas....

[Mame]

I just received a rejection for my first article submission.

The rejection says to "revise for comma usage". Since I'm so new I'm not sure what to do next. Is it appropriate to revise using the comma guidelines and resubmit immediately? Or is it best to wait?

Thanks for answering a newbie question!

Cheers!

[Ed]

You can submit whenever you think the article is ready.

Ed

[Mame]

Thanks Ed!

I'm studying up on my comma usage first! :)

[Ed]

I know our world has it out for the comma, and for this reason it becomes more difficult by the day to know when comma usage is necessary or just old-fashioned. The "look for the natural pause" advice doesn't work for everyone. I think that reference page is clear and comprehensive, and takes a lot of the uncertainty out of placing commas.

[Mame]

The reference page was better than anything I found on the Internet. I even took ALL the comma tests. Ha.

There is one YouTube video I also found helpful:

Coordinating Conjunctions and Comma Splices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlPnBBoca7s

[Marscow]

Don't feel too bad. I got rejected for improper comma use in an article that had no commas.

[BarryDavidson]

The comma, semicolon, and ellipses are on the way out with a huge boot. Even if every comma you use is grammatically correct, you'll still get hammered for comma usage. (There's not much taught on the proper usage anymore.)

Publishers are looking for short, basic sentences. (Se Dick. See Dick run.)

Literature is even harder hit. Publishers have assumed that everyone is stupid, and have taken steps to ensure large words and sentences are removed from text.

[WaldorfPC]

Something that is quite helpful is the Purdue Writing Lab. It explains everything there is to need to know about grammar. You can find it at www.owl.english.purdue.edu I hope this helps.

P.S. This is what I use when I tutor my students.

[Ed]

It's probably the single most dependable source on the web.

[BarryDavidson]

[quote="WaldorfPC"]Something that is quite helpful is the Purdue Writing Lab. It explains everything there is to need to know about grammar. You can find it at http://www.owl.english.purdue.edu I hope this helps.[/quote]


I kept getting an error when I clicked that link. Apparently my browser dowsn't like the www before the owl. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Is it really that commas are so bad, or is it because Americans have become lazy? I'm being honest here. My wife, who has been an editor for over twenty years, posted one of her books online. Almost immediately the "comma-blasters" came out in force. While each comma was grammatically correct, most people didn't recognize the fact that they were. Some of the people attacking her usage of commas were college level English professors.

So the real question is: When did the comma, semicolon, and ellipses become so misunderstood and hated? In the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act, and other similar programs, will people in the future write sentences longer than a 'learn to read' book?


P.S. As you can tell, I rarely bother my wife to edit my work. She makes over fifty an hour at her job, and I feel guilty when I bother her.

[jstevewhite]

Fortunately, Ed doesn't seem to hate commas. Otherwise, I would NEVER get an article accepted.