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Date Posted: 10:42:17 07/25/08 Fri GMT-5
Author: DianeG (smiling)
Author Host/IP: bas1-kitchener06-1096764799.dsl.bell.ca / 65.95.77.127
Subject: Re: Comma use advice
In reply to: Roger 's message, "Re: Comma use" on 17:31:11 07/24/08 Thu GMT-5

Roger,
I have had a similar quandry and I think Lori's advice is right. Use commas only when they are absolutely necessary to make sense of the sentence.

One member of my critique group is a comma fanatic and always tells me to insert more of them for correct usage. It was only after I heard from Lori that I fully realized that being grammatically perfect could slow down the story a lot.

p.s. Like you, I'm polishing a story and hope to send it out next week. I haven't sent anything out in a long time and am pleased that finally I can.

Good luck to both of us.

Diane

>Thanks, Lori. This piece still needs a bit of
>rewriting to get rid of some of the tellin' when I
>should oughta be showin'.
>
>;)
>
>Roger
>
>
>>Good on you, Roger, send it out!
>>
>>Personally, I would omit the comma. Using it isn't
>>incorrect but you already have "and" which separates
>>your clauses. I think the movement these days is to
>>use as few commas as you can get away with. I was
>>advised by an editor some years ago to do that and I
>>think my stuff flows better as a result.
>>
>>Glad to hear you're sending stuff out. Oh, the joy,
>eh?
>>
>>Cheers,
>>
>>Lori
>>
>>PS: I think Lynne Truss has a stick up her, er, back.
>>
>>
>>
>>>I am looking at a story, revising it to send out
>>>(ahem!) and wonder if the following sentence needs a
>>>comma (or for that matter if this sentence does...) :
>>>
>>>"Even the death of the youngest chick, and the
>>>unceremonious dumping of the body by the mother
>didn’t
>>>dampen his enthusiasm for the birds."
>>>
>>>I reckon it's either, a) doesn't need a comma
>>> b) does
>>> c) needs a comma after
>'mother,'
>>>too
>>>or d) doesn't matter
>>>
>>>I read Lynne Truss, and I don't want to be guilty of
>a
>>>yob's comma.

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