Writing Tip ... Comma, Comma, Comma, Commaandgo!

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This just makes me laugh! I found it posted on Facebook, shared by Nancy Sullivan.

Commas have got to be one of the most confusing little jots around. They're like jewelry to our sentences, but it's hard to know when they're actually necessary.

So I did a little research. Unfortunately, this isn't an all-encompassing list - mostly because commas fall more in the usage area than in the grammar rules area.

* Items in a series of more than two should be separated by a comma and a comma should precede the final item and the word and. I was raised that the comma substituted for the word and in a series of items, but that is no longer the case. Now the serial or Oxford comma is always necessary before the and. Something to do with macaroni and cheese if I'm understanding this correctly. Without the Oxford comma, macaroni and cheese is a dish. With the Oxford comma, they are two separate items. Makes all the difference in the world to designate that my favorite sci fi flicks are Stargate, Star Wars, and Star Trek. To write it without the Oxford comma would be putting Wars and Trek together in the same show making Luke subject to Captain Kirk, which might have worked, but Han Solo would never have taken the order, "Make it so."

* A comma is used before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or) when two independent clauses are being connected. For example: Captain Kirk led the first series, but Captain Picard led the best series.

* A comma is used to set off introductory clauses. Regardless of his crimes, Han Solo played the knight in shining armor.

* Set off extraneous information in commas. This one is a toughie. These are phrases, often used to impart extra data, that aren't essential to the sentence. (Yes, that sentence was an example of this situation.) Here's another one: Captain Picard, who played in "The Next Generation, led the starship Enterprise for eight seasons. Basically, you should be able to remove everything between the commas, and the sentence should still make sense.

* "Because" is particularly annoying. Usually it goes without a comma, but once in a while, it needs one. Captain Kirk was a shallow character because of the melodrama of the script. That doesn't need a comma. Captain Picard struck me to be the deeper of the two characters, because I watched that show more often.  The second sentence is about me, not Picard. He wasn't deeper because I watched. The comma there makes my meaning clear, that I thought that way because I watched that show more often.

* No comma is used after a coordinating conjunction to set off a clause. This has always stumped me. In fact, the "but once in a while" on the first line in the last rule caused me to go look up the procedure. The clauses that follow a coordinating conjunction don't get a comma at the beginning. As in: I don't watch Stargate as much as I used to, but every now and then, I'll sit down and watch an episode with my sweet hubby.

I could go on about commas for days! So many rules, so little time!

What frustrating comma rule messes with you?