Coordinating Conjunctions and Commas The Editors Blog February 2.Fiction Editor Beth Hill last modified February 2.The topic of coordinating conjunctions and commas is on my mind because I just finished the most recent novel from a series that I love, a novel filled with superfluous commas.Good author, great characters, engaging plot.I wanted to forget the world for a couple of hours and solve the mystery, put myself in the lead characters shoes and become the wise and successful detective.Hmm.I did say good author, great characters, and engaging plot, rightDid I also say too many commas The excessive comma usage was so obvious that I became annoyed while I was reading.And I dont want to be annoyed when I read.Not with the author.Instead, I want to enjoy the story.Strunk And White S Elements Of Style Serial Comma Mistakes' title='Strunk And White S Elements Of Style Serial Comma Mistakes' />Un libro un insieme di fogli, stampati oppure manoscritti, delle stesse dimensioni, rilegati insieme in un certo ordine e racchiusi da una copertina.Is and in to a was not you i of it the be he his but for are this that by on at they with which she or from had we will have an what been one if would who has her.How a New Yorker copy editor learned to love house style.Mary Norris reflects on her life in grammar.Purple/v4/da/67/79/da6779b7-9b6f-3cb6-8acd-23456af5c1ad/source/320x568bb.jpg' alt='Strunk And White S Elements Of Style Serial Comma Mistakes' title='Strunk And White S Elements Of Style Serial Comma Mistakes' />I want to believe the fiction, not get dragged into reality every fourth page or two or three times on successive pages.I promise you Im not overly picky when I read for enjoyment.But when the errors are both glaring and numerous, I find it hard to turn off my editor side and re engage my reader side.Let me enjoy the story, I say to the book, and stop throwing the mechanics in my face.Lest you think Im making much ado about nothing and that your readers dont even see such things, keep in mind that many readers read punctuation as easily as they do words.Each mark means something to them.And they do notice extra marks or the absence of punctuation.Imagine the problems if I stuck a period in the middle of sentences.Create Drop Down List In Adobe Pro '>Create Drop Down List In Adobe Pro .Youd be confused at first.Maybe youd think.But whatever the cause.What if a writer dropped in the word zoo a couple of times instead of the periods Wouldnt readers have trouble following the story I know I would.You, as writer, want to keep your readers engaged in the fiction.One way is to use punctuation correctly.So.This is a simple post to remind writers when and when not to use commas with coordinating conjunctions.This reminder of the rules is not meant to prevent writers from exercising creativity for effect its an encouragement to write with clarity and simplicity.Need a quick review of the coordinating conjunctions Theyre the FANBOYS words for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.Theyre used to connect words and phrases and clauses.Remember Conjunction Junction from the Schoolhouse Rock folks If not, you might want to check out the cartoon on You.Tube.A dated presentation but still fun.Examples of sentences with coordinating conjunctionsI love cookies and milk.Tommy loves cookies but hates me.I love the cookies Tommy loves, yet he never shares with me.There are three instances when commas go before coordinating conjunctions1.To separate independent clauses, as in the third example above.That is, when two independent clauses each can stand alone as a complete sentence are joined with a coordinating conjunction, a comma is required before the conjunction.Without the comma, the sentence is known as a run on sentence.Independent clauses separated by a comma but without a conjunction are known as a comma splice.Elmer snorted his coffee across the table, so Tobey spewed his beer on the rest of us.Correct. Default Mail Client Is Not Installed Correctly Handle .
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