Kimberly Lang

Battling the Grammar Gremlins

Commas, part 3, and Semicolons

Kimberly Lang

After the last two lessons, you should be feeling pretty good about your ability to use commas correctly. Before we abandon our comma discussion entirely, let’s talk about where commas don’t go.

Remember way back in the introduction when we talked about getting a good grammar handbook? One reason why a handbook designed for college students is a good investment is that English 101 teachers have seen the poor little comma abused horribly over the years; they know where folks are likely to stick commas unnecessarily. Most books will have a top ten (or more) list of common, but incorrect, comma usages. Let’s take a look at the usual suspects. (Today I’m using Keene’s Easy Access as well as Hacker’s Writer’s Reference as my sources.)

NOTE: Incorrect commas are in red (along with the preceding word) so you can see them easily.

Do not use a comma to separate a verb from its subject or object.

Commas only appear between these elements when a specific rule calls for them. These rules include setting off non-restrictive elements, parenthetical expressions, and transitional expressions. See Grammar Gremlins Comma Lessons 1 & 2 for a complete discussion.

Do not use a comma before the first or after the last item in a series.

Other reasons to quit your job are, stress, low pay, bad coworkers, and poor benefits.

John lied, cheated, and stole, to get ahead.

Do not use a comma between an adjective and a noun or an adverb and an adjective.

She was a smart, savvy, businesswoman.

Top fashion models are often disturbingly, thin women.

Do not use a comma to set off a concluding adverb clause essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Adverb clauses that start a sentence are almost always followed by a comma. Adverb clauses at the end of a sentence are only set off by a comma if the phrase is non-essential.

Here’s a hint: Adverb clauses beginning with after, as soon as, before, because, if, since, unless, until, and when are usually essential. Phrases beginning with although, even though, though, and whereas are usually non-essential.

Don’t call me on Tuesdays, until after ten a.m. Without the phrase “until after ten a.m.,” the whole meaning of the sentence changes.

Do not use a comma after such as, although, or like, or before than.

Learning comma rules required more thought, than I was planning.

Many humanities disciplines such as, English, history, and philosophy are complementary to study.

Although, it was Tuesday, she called me before ten a.m.

Do not use a comma with question marks, exclamation points, parentheses, and dashes.

I’m like my mother, (who is also brunette).

“What are you after?,” he asked.

Do not use a comma with an indirect quotation.

My mother once told me, that it wasn’t me she didn’t trust; it was the situation.

Do not use a comma after a coordinating conjunction.

I usually drive to work, but, I walk in nice weather.

Again, revisit Comma Lessons 1 & 2. A comma might occasionally appear after the coordinating conjunction, but it will be part of a pair of commas setting something off from the rest of the sentence.

Do not use a comma between compound elements that are not independent clauses.

Unless the element on each side of the conjunction can stand alone, one clause will be dependent or subordinate to the other. Do not use a comma.

I went to the store, and bought all the ingredients for dinner. Nope, this is a compound predicate for the subject “I.”

Mom doesn’t know that I borrowed her car that night, or that I scratched it. Nope, “or” connects two subordinate clauses, each beginning with “that.”

Now, here’s the tricky part. As I type all the incorrect sentences above, Word’s grammar checker does not have a problem with the majority of the commas. It’s only put a squiggly green line under the question mark followed by a comma and the comma after the coordinating conjunction. Scary, huh? That means you are responsible for catching all those bad commas. But, if you’ve taken notes (or printed out) the last two comma lessons, you know where the commas go. Now you know the places commas don’t go—even if it seems like they should sometimes.

One last comma gremlin—and it’s one of my personal pet peeves: the comma splice. A comma splice is a type of run-on sentence. If you have two or more independent clauses joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction, it’s called a comma splice.

I was writing my blog entry, it goes up on Monday. ACK! See how we have two complete sentences here: I was writing my blog entry. It goes up on Monday. If I want to connect those two sentences, I either need a coordinating conjunction (and would do nicely), or I need a semicolon (see below).

Note: Comma splices are a no-no in American English, but they are considered acceptable in British English. It’s one of those little differences between the two dialects.

Okay, comma experts, here’s your assignment: Take eight pages of your current WIP and highlight every comma. (Yes, I know that’s a lot of commas, but I said we had to be ruthless in our battle.) Look at each comma and decide which rule you are following (or breaking) with each usage. Now read each and every sentence carefully, looking for adverb phrases, appositives, and the like, and see if you’ve omitted any commas. Your eyes may be crossing and you may be cussing me by the time you finish, but you’ll know where your comma gremlins are lurking. (If you really do this exercise, email me and share your story. I’ll praise you publicly on the Writing Playground’s blog.)

Our next item of punctuation up for discussion is the semicolon. Oh, how I love a semicolon! I’ve heard some lively discussions whether editors like semicolons or not, but I’m not going to go in to that here. I just want you to use the semicolon correctly; if your editor hates it, you can always change it in revisions. I doubt it’s a deal-breaker.

A semicolon separates major sentence elements of equal grammatical rank (e.g., independent clauses, items in a series).

Rule: Use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses not joined with a coordinating conjunction. A coordinating conjunction normally tells us the relationship between the clauses. Look at the following sentences:

You can have ice cream, or you can have candy.

You can have ice cream, and you can have candy.

We have two independent clauses (equal grammatical rank), but the coordinating conjunction changes the relationship between the clauses, thereby changing the meaning. If the relation is clear without a coordinating conjunction, you can omit it and use a semicolon instead.

In the early-mid 90s, few people had email; in just a few years, it became as common as a home telephone.

This could have been two different sentences, or it could have been one sentence connected with a coordinating conjunction. It works just fine as one sentence with a semicolon because the independent clauses are closely related.

Using a semicolon instead of a comma and coordinating conjunction is, to me, often the difference between a good sentence and a great one:

Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. (George Santayana)

To err is human; to forgive, divine. (A. Pope)

There’s a bit of an art to using semicolons effectively; use them too much and they loose their effectiveness. Use them incorrectly, and it’s a bad, bad thing.

Rule: Use a semicolon between independent clauses connected with a transitional expression.

This is a variation of the rule above-- only this time we are using conjunctive adverbs (words like also, however, then, therefore, nonetheless) and transitional phrases (like after all, for example, in other words, at any rate) to connect our sentences instead of a coordinating conjunction. The complete list of transitional expressions is too long to list here. Google “conjunctive adverbs” and “transitional phrases,” and the lists will pop up. (Or you could simply look in your handy grammar handbook. You did go purchase one, right?)

So when a transitional expression appears between independent clauses, it is preceded by a semicolon and usually followed by a comma:

Many people think writing a book is easy; in fact, it is really hard work!

When a transitional expression appears in the middle or at the end of the second independent clause, the semicolon goes between the clauses:

Most authors write several books before they hit the bestseller lists; Betsy Bestseller, however, did it with her first one.

Rule: Use a semicolon between items in a series when those items have internal punctuation. In this situation, I call the semicolon a “super comma.” Say you have a series of items in your sentence, and each item has commas in it because of other comma usage rules. What’s a poor reader to do? Without semicolons, your reader is forced to parse out the sentence into the major groupings. Not a good way to make friends with your readers.

Some of my favorite romance novels are For the Roses, Julie Garwood’s story of a special family; Whitney, My Love, with the ultra-alpha Clayton Westmoreland and Whitney, the sassy, unsinkable heroine; Pamela Morsi’s wonderfully funny Garters; and Skye O’Malley, which was the first romance novel I ever read.

Argh! Without the semicolon creating the groupings, that sentence would be a mess.

You can even use a semicolon if you are connecting two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction IF there is internal punctuation in one of the sentences, and you need to clarify where the break in the clauses is:

I love oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips, raisins, and walnuts; and I’ll eat the entire batch before they even cool down.

This is technically correct, but it looks a little funny, and folks may call you on it. Either be prepared to defend it or revise the sentence.

That’s it. Semicolons only have three really good uses, so they’re easier to get the hang of than commas.

You are now the master of two commonly abused punctuation marks. Congratulations! Next month, I’ll take a break from punctuation and get into the issue of dangling and misplaced modifiers and the joys of parallelism.