Commas

As an up and coming Journalist and someone who has worked for the student newspaper for 3 1/2 years now, one would think I have command of the English language. When it comes to words yes, when it comes to commas no. I didn't ever realize I had a problem with comma usage until I was a Sophomore in college and my Intro to News Writer professor suggested I meet with him after class to go over proper usage. It was brought my attention again today when a friend of mine was reading this very blog. Commas, I believe, should be optional; usable when I feel like (and I often do) but if I forget one every now and then it shouldn't be a big deal. There are so many rules with commas. You put one in lists but not before the last item unless what follows it is a complete sentence. You can't use them to separate two complete sentence unless used in conjunction with and or but. You can use them to set off important things, but are encouraged not to over use them. There are about a billion other comma rules that seem to have eluded me for now. The point is, however, that commas are the bain of my existence. It is quite possible that I used at least three or four of them incorrectly in this short post about commas and its a definite that I will misuse them again in the future. You have been warned, so cut me some slack.