Don’t be afraid to use commas Nov01 '05
Never underestimate the power of commas, in sentence structure. Commas provide a brief pause in the flow of reading, which allow readers to absorb the content, with ease.
I typically don’t feel bad about slapping commas in, all over the place. I don’t think there’s a limit, or mis-use, that can occur from using too many commas. At least, I’ve never seen a situation like that.
Rather, I notice many people write without commas, at all. This makes their sentences one complete run-on. But - more importantly, the meaning can be mis-interpreted, as in this recent sentence, from my RSS reader:
The Chicago Bulls will tip off the team’s 40th season at the United Center on Wednesday, when the Charlotte Bobcats come to town...
Upon first reading this, I thought to myself, "The Bulls haven’t been playing in the United Center for 40 years!" The United Center opened in 1994 - just over a decade ago.
The lack of a comma in that sentence allowed me to mis-interpret the meaning. The comma should be placed directly after '40th season:'
The Chicago Bulls will tip off the team’s 40th season, at the United Center on Wednesday, when the Charlotte Bobcats come to town...
Aah. Much better.
My advice: don’t be afraid to use commas.
Categories: Writing 
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Jennifer - very good points. One of your corrections: Commas provide a brief pause in the flow of re ... Read more.
Ooops. I didn't realize that now there's a "double 'ing'." :) reading, allowing Oh well. Your first c ... Read more.
The "allowing" version occurred to me to. I think either is fine - the doubled "s" and "ing" don't bother me - I didn't even notice them, actually ... Read more.
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Hmm, actually I'm pretty sure these are incorrect usages of commas. They actually make the sentences feel more awkward to me, putting pauses where ... Read more.