Please comma back

As written English gets lazier and lazier, I have been witnessing the demise of one of my favorite punctuation marks—no, not the em dash—the comma.

Direct-Address Commas

One of the comma usages that I miss the most is the direct-address comma. The direct-address comma is the one that you put next to someone's name or term of address when you are speaking directly to them. Sometimes the comma goes before the name, sometimes after, and sometimes both, but it always serves to separate the recipient of the sentence from the content. Some classic examples? "Hello, Clarice."  "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

I notice the absence of this special type of comma almost every day in my emails, which begin with greetings like "Hi Valerie..." I've learned to accept and even adopt that particular non-usage because a direct-address comma in a 2-word sentence seems like overkill (You still know exactly what I mean if I write "Hello Clarice"), but there are plenty of times when a direct-address comma is still right and proper and downright required. As people are fond of putting on T-shirts, commas save lives.

Oxford Commas

Another kind of comma that clarifies meanings, yet is frequently disregarded, is the Oxford comma. If you haven't heard the debate about the Oxford comma, you've either been living under a rock, living in a house but without internet, or you have no interest in grammar. But if by some stroke of luck you do have internet and you are interested in grammar and you have not heard the debate about the Oxford comma, here's how it goes.

In a list of 3 or more items, every item must be followed by a comma. The final item is preceded by the word "and," which is in turn preceded by a comma. For example, "My outfit today is blue, white, and orange." That last comma is the Oxford comma. It is considered indispensable by some style guides, and unnecessary by others (notably the Associated Press, which rules most journalistic publications). Many people who do not adhere to any particular style guide nonetheless have very heated opinions over whether to use the Oxford comma (also known as the serial comma, though I like to give it its capitalized name, because that in turn gives it an air of refinement).

As you might guess, I myself am firmly in the pro-comma camp, as I believe it serves a valuable role in helping the reader quickly determine where a sentence is going. The serial comma is a visual clue that the next word you are going to read is another item in the list, rather than something that should be grouped with the item before it. For example, "The company has three branches: finance, research, and development." In this sentence, the Oxford comma lets you know that development is the third and final branch, and not just part of the frequently combined "Research and Development."

Take a gander at this sentence, lacking the serial comma: "The company has three branches: finance, research and development and marketing." What a slew of 'and's! And which is the combined branch? Research and Development? Or Development and Marketing?

In most cases, the context usually clues you in to the meaning, with or without a comma, but that little punctuation mark just helps makes comprehension occur that much faster. And sometimes it's downright necessary!

In conclusion

I don't make the rules; in fact, sometimes I purposely break them (If you don't believe me, check out the doozy of a sentence in my second paragraph about Oxford commas, beginning with "but if by some stroke...", which is short no less than three commas by the dictates of a more traditional grammar—I chose to leave out the commas so it would read in one breathless rush), but there are times when inserting a comma is just the right thing to do. Sure, if you want to go around writing your sentences just a little faster at the expense of clarity, I won't yell at you, but I'll definitely judge you.

It only takes a fraction of a second to type a comma, and in many cases, it makes a world of difference in meaning. Regularly using the Oxford and direct-address commas would almost certainly make your communication more comprehensible, and it would definitely make me happier. So if you've got a few extra seconds to put your punctuation where your breath is, why don't you comma on over to my side of the debate?