Exasperated, I finally forbade one of my first year law students from using any commas in a writing assignment. We’d gone down the road of attempting restraint. Reviewed the comma rules. But she just couldn’t help herself, it was as if every time she paused on the keyboard, her finger reached out and jabbed a comma into her draft. The draft read like a scratched CD. So she took them all out and we worked together; she justified every comma before I agreed to let it back in. Painful but necessary, the effort exceeded two minutes. You can master the most common comma uses, however, in two minutes. Go.

Use serial commas, that is, commas separating the items in a series.
Does a comma belong between the second-to-last and last item?  Most legal style guides advise yes, right before the connector. Why? It removes all doubt; lawyers are all about clarity. Other writers aren’t so picky, perhaps they want to keep the reader guessing so don’t feel bad if you see serial commas handled differently in non-legal writing. For example, serial commas are often omitted in newspapers and magazines to save space.

Attorneys find loopholes, split hairs and use serial commas.
preferred: Attorneys find loopholes, split hairs, and use serial commas.

Place a comma between two independent clauses, joined by a connector.
Not much to add here, pretty self explanatory. The most common mistake I see are those who, once having typed a connector, can’t help but throw in a comma for good measure.

incorrect: The attorney did not feel good in the morning, and threw up in court.
correct: The attorney did not feel good in the morning and threw up in court.

No comma needed because “threw up” is not an independent clause. Start reading after the connector; if that part can stand alone, then back up and add a comma.

Sick of commas? For variety, throw out the comma and the connector and replace both with a semi colon. A semi-colon is a lovely and appropriate punctuation mark if what lurks on either side could stand alone as a sentence.

Some attorneys like commas, but some prefer semi-colons.
Some attorneys like commas; some prefer semi-colons.

Or dispatch with all punctuation marks but for the period.

Forgot connectors, semi colons, and commas. Make two sentences.

I could keep droning on about commas, but I’d exceed two minutes. Also the other comma rules are a bit more intuitive, if you read your draft, you’ll naturally pause at the place you should insert a comma. So, I won’t spend much time, I’ll just bunch up a few others in one big rule:

Add a comma after introductory elements and to set off transitional words and parenthetical elements.

At the time of the accident, the defendant, who is an attorney, was riding a unicycle.

Spend two minutes, master commas and avoid an international incident.

Posted by Nancy Hupp