Editing Common Comma Errors

In the last lesson, you learned how to combine sentences to improve the flow of your writing. In this lesson, you'll review how to avoid three common comma errors that can occur when you combine sentences.

1. Missing Comma in a Compound Sentence: When you combine two sentences (independent clauses) using a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), always place a comma before the conjunction.

   Manuel gave swimming lessons to Sam, and Lupita coaxed him into the wave pool.

   Note: Without the comma, this compound sentence could be misread as "Manuel gave swimming lessons to Sam and Lupita . . .

2. Missing Comma in a Series: Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses, in a series.

   I want to thank my parents, Spock, and Serena Williams.

   Note: Without the final comma, this sentence could be misread as "I want to thank my parents, Spock and Serena Williams (the parents are Spock and Serena Williams?).

3. Missing Comma After Long Introductory Phrases or Clauses: Place a comma after a long introductory phrases or clauses before the main part of sentence.

   In the middle of the night, the neighborhood was usually very quiet.

   When I heard a thump and shout, the pounding of my heart filled the room.

   Note: Without the comma, the opening clause gets confused with the subject: "a thump and shout the pounding of my heart . .&nbsp."

1. Amazon ants are fierce, but fire ants are even fiercer.
2. An owl cannot move its eyes, so it must move its whole head to look in different directions.
3. To compete in the Olympics, Maria must train for years.
4. If you are interested in trying snowboarding, you should rent equipment before buying it.
5. Imagine life without antibiotics to fight infections, vaccinations to prevent diseases, or scanners to diagnose our illnesses.
6. The curtain parted to reveal Childish Gambino, and the crowd clapped and screamed loudly.
7. Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite National Parks protect complex ecosystems that might otherwise be lost forever.
8. Blue whales are the largest living creatures, and Galapagos tortoises have the longest life span.
9. Because mountain climbers often endure many weather changes, they wear multiple layers of clothing.
10. Mammals have red blood, and insects have yellow blood.

Editing Titles

When you write about literature, you should include the titles of the specific works you are discussing. Two editing issues you need to consider with titles are (1) what words to capitalize and (2) whether to italicize the title or surround it with quotations marks.

In general, you'll want to follow these rules:

• Italicize (or underline) titles of larger works (books, movies, TV shows—whole works), and use quotation marks around smaller works (articles, poems, short stories, speeches—parts of whole works).
• Always capitalize the first and last words in titles.
• Also capitalize important words in between, including short verbs (is, was, and so on) and personal pronouns and possessives (me, hers, it, you, my, our, and so on).
• Don't capitalize articles (a, an, and the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet), and very short prepositions (with, in, to, into, from, of, and so on) in this middle of titles.

1. Harry potter and the sorcerer's stoneHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book)
2. mending wall"Mending Wall" (Poem)
3. I have a dream"I Have a Dream" (Speech)
4. Raiders of the lost arkRaiders of the Lost Ark (Movie)
5. to kill a mockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird (Book)

Editing in Action

When you edit, you check sentences, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, usage, and grammar. You make corrections to ensure that your work is error free.

• Paragraph Before Edits

  

• Agreement and usage errors are fixed as well as missing capital letters and commas.

  

• Paragraph After Edits

  

Publishing a Final Copy

Reflecting on Your Writing