By Janice Seagraves
Commas can be a bit tricky, especially for the novice writer. I’ve noticed some extra commas or none at all in some of the work I critique, so I thought this would be a good lesson.
Mary did the dishes and dumped the garbage.
Mary did both things, so there is no need of a comma here.
But if you have two people doing different things in the same sentence, you will need a comma.
Not correct: Billy did the dishes and Mary dumped the garbage.
Correct: Billy did the dishes, and Mary dumped the garbage.
When you use dialogue and address someone you’ll need a comma right before or right after the names.
Example: Mary, can you dump the garbage?
Or Isn’t it your turn to dump the garbage, Mary?
And if you insert the name in the middle of the sentence like: Isn’t your turn, Mary, to dump the garbage?
Be careful where you put that comma. It can change the meaning of what you’re trying to say.
You might remember this meme:
Let’s eat grandma.
Let’s eat, grandma.
The comma causes a slight hesitation and can change the meaning of the sentence.
So, use the comma, and not eat grandma.