Help needed with comma splices

[DavidPeta28]

Hi all

Having a really rough time with comma splices. After nearly three successful years on CC, I've suddenly had a rash of successive rejections regarding commas, and it has completely knocked my confidence. Instead of writing new material for the site, I find myself rewriting rejected articles to the point of lunacy. I can't afford to spend much more time on this issue, so I've decided on one last effort to get it right. I read the recent CC newsletter on comma splices but am still doubting myself at every turn; could somebody possibly look at the below paragraph and tell me if there are misplaced or missing commas? If I have this right, it will at least let me know I'm on the right path.

Many thanks
David

Shell Grotto, Margate
If you need a break from Kent's agriculture and history head to Margate, 15 miles (24 kilometres) east of Whitstable, for a completely different (and rather kitsch) experience. The Shell Grotto is said to be a prehistoric pagan temple, consisting as it does of countless shells embedded in the chalk walls. Some of the mosaic has been arranged into erotic symbols that appear to give fealty to the moon goddess. The shells appear dirty thanks to gas lamps that were used to light the caves, leaving the shells exposed to carbon deposits. The grotto was discovered in the 1830s; while some suggest it's a fake -- deliberately designed to resemble a prehistoric landmark -- it was Grade I listed in 1973, and is now overseen by English Heritage. It attracts a trickle of tourists keen to decide for themselves about its origins. If you exclude the grotto, Margate's oldest landmark is the Tudor House, dating from the early 16th century and currently the repository for seaside memorabilia.

[Lysis]

Hi there, don't have an answer for you as I am in the same boat. Just wanted to give you some consolation that you're not the only one.

I've been taking a different direction and not using commas as much as possible. Instead, I've been making separate sentences. Or if the second part of the sentence after the "and" is short, then I don't use a comma. I'm confused sometimes with the comma corrections, but they seem to have slowed a bit for me since I've taken action to reduce them.

[DavidPeta28]

Thanks Lysis, appreciate your help. I like the idea of drastically cutting back on them & glad to hear it's having some payback for you. Sometimes you just can't avoid the little critters!

[tayalltheway]

I don't see any misplaced commas in the excerpt you posted, and I've never had a rejection from CC for comma usage. That said, I don't claim to be an expert either.

[Abbamay]

CC recently sent us an email with this link below to help with comma splices. Did you see it?

https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 ... -140851241

It should help! Good luck.

[DavidPeta28]

Thanks Abbamay, yes, as mentioned in my original post, I had received the CC email but still find myself confused.

[Abbamay]

Hi mate,

Sorry - I was too quick to notice that you'd already read through the CC info. My best advice is to cut sentences shorter if you aren't sure about how to manage all the commas. It will make it easier for you and clear for your readers too. My suggestion for your paragraph is below, but you will know whether or not that sounds like the right idea for you.

Take care!

Abba

Shell Grotto, Margate
If you need a break from Kent's agriculture and history, head to Margate. 15 miles (24 kilometres) east of Whitstable, it is a completely different (and rather kitsch) experience. The Shell Grotto is said to be a prehistoric pagan temple which consists of countless shells embedded in the chalk walls. Some of the mosaic has been arranged into erotic symbols that appear to give fealty to the moon goddess. The shells appear dirty due to gas lamps that were used to light the caves, leaving the shells exposed to carbon deposits. The grotto was discovered in the 1830s, and while some suggest it's a fake - deliberately designed to resemble a prehistoric landmark - it was Grade I listed in 1973 and is now overseen by English Heritage. It attracts a trickle of tourists keen to decide for themselves about its origins. If you exclude the grotto, Margate's oldest landmark is the Tudor House. It dates from the early 16th century and is currently the repository for seaside memorabilia.

[DavidPeta28]

Thank you Abba - that's a very good idea, appreciate the advice!

[Abbamay]

No problem. I have just been thinking about a different way to write the sentence below:

"The shells appear dirty due to gas lamps that were used to light the caves, leaving the shells exposed to carbon deposits."

I think I would write this as: "The shells appear dirty because they were exposed to carbon deposits from the gas lamps which were used to light the caves."

Anyway, I'm sure you're on the right track!

Abba

[Courtney]

No problem. I have just been thinking about a different way to write the sentence below:

"The shells appear dirty due to gas lamps that were used to light the caves, leaving the shells exposed to carbon deposits."

I think I would write this as: "The shells appear dirty because they were exposed to carbon deposits from the gas lamps which were used to light the caves."

Abba

I was always told to use "that" in place of "which" when it fits, so I would write "The shells appear dirty because they were exposed to carbon deposits from the gas lamps that were used to light the caves."

[Isabelnewth]

I think 'that' and 'which' are often interchangeable. UK English tends to favour 'which', and US uses more 'that', even sometimes instead of 'who' to refer to people. 'That' is gaining ground in UK English, though. I think the different versions of written English are moving closer together, what with the internet, I suppose, but they haven't quite merged. The punctuation rules applied on this site are more US than UK, I think.

[Abbamay]

Hi Courtney,

That's my 'which', not the original author's, so it'll be my mistake. Unfortunately here in NZ we sometimes do things a bit differently, and it sounded good from a Kiwi point of view. I was really thinking about the commas though because of DavidPeta28's original question.

Thanks for the comments!

Abba

[Angie H]

Not sure if it will help you, but I had this issue a while ago. Eric sent me a link
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/

I used it like a check list. I removed all the commas from my articles. Then, I went through and added them back in as I went through Owl's resource. After the first few articles, I no longer had any issues. (Memorized it maybe? lol)

Good luck.

By the way, the "that" vs "which" debate? There is a difference. It depends on the type of clause you've used with it. http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educat ... sus-that-0

[DavidPeta28]

Thanks folks, all your help is much appreciated.

I have submitted an article which (that?) has been sitting pretty for nearly a week. Its acceptance will probably be as beneficial to my health as most anti-cancer foods!

Catch you all on the flipside (whatever that means)

[Isabelnewth]

Grammar girl is American!