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Overuse of Commas

When writers are unaware of the typical uses of commas, they often insert them where they are unnecessary. The result is too many commas in a sentence. The following sentences illustrate the overuse of commas and how those sentences appear once they are rewritten.

Sentence 1:

The world seems to smile upon Jill, but Jack, seems to have only, an endless streak of bad luck.

Rewrite:

The world seems to smile upon Jill but Jack seems to have only an endless streak of bad luck.

The only comma that is necessary is the comma before the coordinating conjunction "but." In this sentence the comma and the coordinating conjunction indicate that the sentence is a compound sentence.

Sentence 2:

Jack and Jill are my friends, because they are both honest, decent, compassionate people.

Rewrite:

Jack and Jill are my friends because they are both honest decent compassionate people.

A comma should only be used before the word "because" if the placement of such a comma is crucial to the sense of the sentence. Remember, serial commas are necessary between the adjectives "honest, decent, compassionate."

Sentence 3:

The main reason I didn't want to go to the movie, is I didn't have enough money.

Rewrite:

The main reason I didn't want to go to the movie is I didn't have enough money.

Beware of commas that appear right before the main verb of a sentence.