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“Goblin Grammar School” The rustling sounds of movement and incoherent chatter drifted down the confines of the dank, dark cavern. Taking a deep breath, the brave warrior clutched the handle of his sword and advanced. The trip had been difficult, but he knew that he must do all he could in order to survive. The ruler of his village, which had suffered from many attacks, thought it best to send their most trained man to deal with the goblin menace. He made sure to bring his sword, a lantern, and some food for the journey, and he was glad that he had. Even though his hand shook as he reached for the wall, he was not scared, just nervous. A door stood at the end of the tunnel. He blinked and pulled a piece of parchment off of the door. “What? It’s some sort of message,” the warrior whispered to himself. Pulling out his lantern, he held the parchment to the light. The words were scribbled in haste and with some sort of brown substance. He tried not to think about what it could be and focused on the letter. Dear Traveler, Please knock before entering. Class is in session. Thanks, Klinix, Schoolmaster July 10, 1044 The warrior crumpled up the paper and tossed it to the floor. Drawing in another deep breath, he reached for the handle. Ok, so I just wrote that on the spot just now, and I bet you’re wondering the importance of it? Well, I’ll tell you. In that short little story above, I’ve demonstrated the many, many, many uses of that allusive beast called “the comma.” Oh sit down and stop your groaning! I know that comma usage can be difficult. I struggle with it, too. Those of you who have had your work reviewed by me know that I’m a stickler for comma usage. When I catch it, I make sure to let you know where a comma should and shouldn’t be. Worry no longer! After this little lesson, I hope that you’ll walk away with some newly gained knowledge on the ol’ comma! Compound Sentences One of the most common uses of the comma is in what are called “compound sentences.” Simply put, compound sentences are combining two sentences together into one using a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are those little words like and, or, but, for, so, & yet. The easiest way for me to remember my coordinating conjunctions is to remember FAN BOYS (for/and/nor / but/or/yet/so). This may or may not work for you, but it’s something to keep in mind. In the story above, I used a conjunction to make a compound sentence: “The trip had been difficult, but he knew that he must do all he could in order to survive.” Remember: Both sentences need to be complete sentences that are somewhat related. Example: Sentence 1 - The goblin growled. Sentence 2 - The warrior smacked him. These would work ok by themselves, but why not combine them? Combined Sentence - The goblin growled, and the warrior smacked him. Introductory Clauses & Phrases Ok, this is where things can get a little trickier. Let’s start by showing some of the examples from the above story. “Taking a deep breath, the brave warrior clutched the handle of his sword and advanced.” “Pulling out his lantern, he held the parchment to the light.” Introductory clauses and phrases do what the name suggests. In each of these examples, the phrase before the comma help show what is going on and relating it to the main cause of the sentence. That’s a lot of fancy talk. The clauses are extra writing that can be taken out. Try taking both of those clauses away. “The brave warrior clutched the handle of his sword and advanced.” “He held the parchment to the light.” Both sentences still make sense, but which ones sound better? Personally, I like the first examples. Clauses Found Elsewhere I bet you’re saying, “Hey Lemon! What about that clause you had in your story that showed up in the middle of a sentence! You know, the one surrounded by those evil, devilish commas!” Oh, you mean this sentence? “The ruler of his village, which had suffered from many attacks, thought it best to send their most trained man to deal with the goblin menace.” Ok, this works exactly like an introductory clause. The only difference is that it doesn’t come at the beginning. The words surrounded by commas further describe the village. If I really wanted to, I could have said the following instead: “The ruler of the village thought it best to send their most trained man to deal with the goblin menace. His village had suffered from many attacks.” Bleh! That’s just ugly! There are many common words that we use to set off these kinds of clauses. Some of them include: who, whom, which, and however. NEVER use commas when the information that follows is essential. What do I mean by that? Here are a few examples. Examples: Correct: “The priest believed that his god would protect him from the falling boulder.” Incorrect: “The priest believed, that his god would protect him from the falling boulder.” Correct: “The jewelry that I borrowed from her was stolen.” Incorrect: “The jewelry, that I borrowed from her, was stolen.” If the phrase starts with “that,” never surround it with commas. Items in a Series/List This one is easy! When you are listing items, put commas after each item! Example from story: “He made sure to bring his sword, a lantern, and some food for the journey, and he was glad that he had.” The items that the warrior brought are separated by commas. Also, it is perfectly acceptable to write that sentence without the last comma. In fact, the British leave it out all together. Example: “He made sure to bring his sword, a lantern and some food for the journey, and he was glad that he had.” Adjectives in a Row Let’s say you want to get really descriptive with something in your writing. There’s nothing wrong with that! Go wild! How many ways can we describe a goblin? Goblin: smelly, loud, annoying, obnoxious, crazy, weird, green, small… We could go on and on, but let’s see how you’d actually use all that in a sentence. Example: “I laughed at the weird, loud, obnoxious, crazy, smelly, annoying, small, green goblin.” Ok, this is an extreme example, and it’s also bad writing. How about we look at the story? Example from story: “The rustling sounds of movement and incoherent chatter drifted down the confines of the dank, dark cavern.” The cavern is both dank and dark, so we separate them with a comma. Separating Contrasting Elements This one isn’t used very often, and it can be very tricky. However, I believe that it merits mentioning. Example from story: “Even though his hand shook as he reached for the wall, he was not scared, just nervous.” The part we want to look at is the last comma in the sentence. The warrior was not scared, but he was a little nervous. To make that distinction, I used a comma. Try saying it out loud, pausing at that comma. If you do that, you can see why we need it. Geographical Names Ok, I realize now that I didn’t include this in my story, but I only just remembered it. This one is easy, so I’ll just give a few short examples. Examples: Chicago, Illinois Birmingham, England Dates Here’s another easy one. Use a comma between the day and the year of a date. Example from story: “July 10, 1044” Dialogue As writers, this can be one of the most difficult and important uses. When you are using dialogue, you want to use commas in place of periods, unless the dialogue ends a sentence. Basically, you want to use commas in dialogue when breaking it apart. Example from story: “What? It’s some sort of message,” the warrior whispered to himself. You wouldn’t say: “What? It’s some sort of message.” the warrior whispered to himself. The comma always goes INSIDE of the quotation marks--all punctuation does. Another example: “I really want you to know something,” the man whispered to his wife, “I love you, and I always will.” In this example, a comma also comes before the next quotation in the same sentence. Letters When you are writing a letter, you will use a comma after the introduction and the conclusion. Example from story: Dear Traveler, Please knock before entering. Class is in session. Thanks, Klinix, Schoolmaster The commas come after the “dear” or “to” part and after the “thanks,” “sincerely,” or “truly yours.” In Closing I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things, but these are the major uses of the comma. I hope that I’ve shed a little light on the evil shadow of this simple little mark. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at my writing.com e-mail or at dicedlemons@yahoo.com. Also feel free to send any and all feedback as well as suggestions for next week’s topic! Take care and happy writing! -The Lemon
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