Mechanics Monday
I decided that I need a grammar refresher course and thought that maybe some of my writer-reader friends might appreciate that too. So Mondays will now be Mechanics Mondays with just a few little grammatical tips. Disclaimer—this is not meant to be an entire course in writing mechanics, and if it were, it sure wouldn’t be taught by me!
Historically, the most difficult punctuation mark for me was the comma. I, can, use, them, all right, I just use, them, too, much!
Don’t use a comma when:
1) a conjunction separates the words in a series…and and and…see? no comma.
2) the word or phrase is in italics or quotation marks like the word this is in italics or the word “this” was used way too much in this rule …see? no comma!
3) you’re writing your zip code on an envelope after your state: Confusion 91100
Good Luck with your writing, (yes, the comma is okay after a closing in a letter and also to set off the words yes, no, why, well when they are used at the beginning of a sentence. And did you notice the commas between words in a series? Clever, right?
Vicki
