Can, you have, too many, commas?

Post date: Apr 26, 2013 5:43:44 PM

I received a registration form from someone who clearly, didn't know, the rules, for comma usage. He, liked to, put, commas, after one or, two words.

I found myself actually editing the registration page because I found that I couldn't read the page without deleting the commas. I turned the sheet in with my edits!

I know that most people don't know all the rules of punctuation. (And that's a good thing for us editors.) But here are two good pointers to keep you from embarrassing yourself or your business: 1) If you're not sure whether to use a comma, don't use it. 2) Commas tell the reader to pause. So read the sentence out loud. If the pause doesn't sound right, drop the comma.