Avoid Cannibalism: Use a Comma

(For Jennifer)

Recently I joined a very popular Facebook group created to save society from cannibalism: "'Let's eat Grandma!' or, 'Let's eat, Grandma!' Punctuation saves lives." With its 667,470 fans, this Facebook group demonstrates the importance of the comma to not only save your readers from confusion and yourself from embarassment, but the comma saves society from cannibalism.

When using introductory words or phrases, you want to use a comma to separate them from the rest of the sentence:

• When we are cooking children cannot come in the kitchen.


• When we are cooking, children cannot come in the kitchen.

The first sentence might lead your reader to suspect you of cooking children; however, using a comma after your introductory phrase avoids confusion and clarifies your meaning.

Also, we must use a comma when addressing someone by name: this is referred to as the direct address comma. When addressing someone directly, you need a comma before the name if it's at the end of the sentence:

• Let's eat Grandma!


• Let's eat, Grandma!

The sentence without the comma tells the reader you want to eat Grandma, instead of telling Grandma that it's time to eat. Again, without the comma, the sentence may lead the reader to accuse you of cannibalism!

The direct address comma is necessary when the name is at the beginning of the sentence as well. Place the comma after the name to clarify your meaning. For example:

• George Harrison has been sort of my hero.


• George, Harrison has been sort of my hero.

If addressing George and telling him that Harrison is my hero, I must use the comma after George's name; otherwise, I am saying that George Harrison is my hero.

Also be sure to use two commas to off-set the name if it's in the middle of the sentence:

• Let's eat Grandma and not wait for the rest of the family.


• Let's eat, Grandma, and not wait for the rest of the family.

Without placing commas around "Grandma," the meaning of sentence changes drastically.

Yes, commas are overused and misused in the English language: as Oscar Wilde said, "I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out." However, we must remember that correctly utilizing the comma saves lives and keeps us from "cooking children" and "eating Grandma."

The Controversial Oxford Comma

Use of the Oxford comma (also known as the serial comma or the Harvard comma) is often debated in the grammar world. To use it or not: that is the question. Most non-journalistic writing in the United States follows the Chicago Manual of Style for writing and uses this little comma; however, most journalistic writing follows the Associated Press Style Guide, which suggests against using it. To help you decide whether or not the Oxford comma is necessary, let's take a quick look at both sides of this controversy.

But first, I want to make sure we all know what we're talking about when discussing the Oxford comma. This is the comma used before the last item in series or list of 3 or more items. It is used to separate and remove ambiguity from the author's meaning. For example, this sentence uses the Oxford comma:

• My duties include answering phone calls, responding to emails, filing, and supervising employees.

The final comma before "and" separates the last two duties - filing and supervising. Without that comma, the reader might think that my responsibilities include "filing and supervising employees," leaving the reader to ponder how someone files employees.

On the other hand, there are those who argue that the use of (or the lack of) the serial comma is of little to no consequence because the items in the series are words equal in weight and value, and they are separated by "and" or "or."

The basic reasoning for or against using the Oxford comma breaks down as such:

Reasons for using it:

• it clarifies ambiguity
• it matches spoken cadence

Reasons against using it:

• it is redundant

To use or not to use: that is the question. In arriving at your decision a practical tip is to not assume that your audience will automatically think what you're thinking and to err on the side of caution, utilizing the serial comma to clarify your meaning. However, it is also important to take your organization into account. In your office you may notice a prevailing trend to use (or not to use) this controversial comma in your fellows' writings. If you notice a trend in your office, then go with that!

Hyphens: Correct Usage Between Words

In my experience, usage of the hyphen both in formal and informal writing is often haphazard. Sure, it’s possible that your readers will not notice (or care) that your hyphenation is incorrect (or missing), but when it comes to writing in professional situations, your credibility may be at stake.

This Tips & Tricks post will focus on the correct usage of the hyphen when it’s placed in between two words.

Let’s examine some common hyphenation rules and examples to illustrate them:

1. Numbers:
• Compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine:
• The lady who lived in the house at the corner of my street was known to have twenty-three cats.
• Fractions:
• He was out of town on business for about one-fifth of each year.


2. Adjectives that come before a noun and operate as one modifier:
• The right-side window was broken.
• Jerry’s long-awaited promotion offer was given to him on Friday.


3. Compound nouns: In the case of compound nouns, it’s best to check a dictionary (or http://www.dictionary.com/) to see if a compound noun should be two separate words, one whole word (without a hyphen) or hyphenated.
• That new horror movie isn’t for the faint-hearted.
• I borrowed my mom’s hand-held blow dryer when I visited her for the weekend.


4. To provide clarity: In confusing sentences, a hyphen may be used to clarify words that should go together, even though the words are technically separate.
• My first grade school teacher was Mrs. Smith. or My first-grade school teacher was Mrs. Smith.
• I saw thirteen odd dogs. or I saw thirteen-odd dogs.


5. Between the repetition of a letter:
• Her sister lived on a co-op with several friends; they grew and shared produce on land they all owned.
• The snake re-emerged from the pool of mud, and Jake screamed.
• EXCEPTIONS: There are several exceptions to this. For instance, the words overrule and underrate should not be hyphenated.