Commas Are Important

As Pat Holt said in his article on 10 Mistakes Writers Don't See, " Compound sentences, most modifying clauses and many phrases *require* commas."

Many writers omit commas simply because they don't know where to put them. I have always lived by one rule: If you don't know the rules you can't break them. And, if you don't know the rules about commas, it will become obvious very early in your manuscript. With all they have to read, your book will be consigned to the rejection pile of you don't know how to punctuate.

I am currently working with an author who absolutely does not know how to use commas. Because the publisher likes his story concept, I am working with him. But I dread every new draft. Even though I go through an correct the comma errors, he does not seem to have learned the lesson well. Even simple things, like nouns of address, need to be punctuated correctly:

Incorrect: "Hello Darling" he shouted above the music.
Correct: "Hello, Darling," he shouted above the music.

Such an error is an automatic flag to an editor that you have no idea what you are doing. She doesn't need to wast her valuable time on you.

Lots of writers think omitting commas gives their work a sense of urgency:

Incorrect: Fleeing the scene of the crime he stopped momentarily to catch is breath and hopefully decide on a course of action.
Correct: Fleeing the scene of the crime, he stopped momentarily to catch his breath and, hopefully, decide on a course of action.

What has happened in the first version is that the reader becomes bogged down in verbiage. Instead of conveying a sense of breathlesness by omitting the commas, the sentence becomes heavy and plods along.

Keep in mind, any time your reader has to stop, consider what you mean, and then plod on, you have lost your audience. The spell of the writing has stopped and the reader leaves the magic of your writing. Dare I even suggest your manuscript ends up in the rejection pile?

Entire books have been written about punctuation. Your high school English class should have taught it to you. There was a reason for all those boring grammar drills. If you don't know how to punctuate, use those commas, then learn. The Chicago Manual of Style is the standard in the writing world. All of "Chapter 6: Punctuation" is online for you to read and study.

Better, yet, buy a copy. It will be the best $35 you ever spend. What you don't know will be obvious.