Monday, March 28, 2011

Comma Splice? Me? No… yes? Oh bumpers

Okay, how many of you know what a comma splice is? This is another day in my quest for punctuation perfection. So, lucky duck that I am, after stumbling about in bloggy land I got to Missed Periods blog (anyway you want to cut it – that is a funny name). She is an English professor and her blog basically deals with the nuances of the English Language. I honestly don't remember how we met but she never fails to crack me up while teaching me something new.

So back to my story, my first day back in the saddle I was on her blog and guess what I saw? She is starting a Proof reading/editing business and she is (maybe was) giving out free samples of her work. Since nothing in my life ever happens in small measures I emailed her begging for a freebie. At the same time she saw my help! I suck at punctuation blog post, et voila! I got 20 pages out of my manuscript done for free in one weekend (you should see the red marks. She was thorough but pleasant about it.)

She told me I have a comma splice. Do you know what a comma splice is? Neither did I. So I looked it up and it basically means I put commas in places I should have full stops (periods) or semi colons. For more info on that see her here.

The good thing is I am one step closer to my dream. I am learning from her edits and she even does plot stuff too. So while I go off to get head shots (lame joke) I leave you with Missed Periods, even if all you do is read her blog you would have learnt something new today.

xoxo

Joanna
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25 comments:

  1. Angelina RainMarch 28, 2011 at 8:02 AM

    Wow, thanks. I’m off to check her blog out now. I’m sure if I were to send her a sample of my writing, she would get rid of half of the periods and replace them with commas. That’s what my editor always does with my writing. I guess we both need to go back to school and relearn grammar. The odd thing is I aced it in high school. Damn short term memory!

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  2. AnonymousMarch 28, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    I do actuallly, but I had to learn and look it up on a website LOL. I did a comma cheat that was for myself and then I did a short blogpost on it b/c I was terrible. haha. I am going to have to check that out!

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  3. Rula SinaraMarch 28, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    I had an english teacher who ground grammar into us like you wouldn't believe. We got deducted an entire grade for each comma splice or run-on sentence. None-the-less, I still make mistakes, and I find myself referencing grammar books/blogs for rules I've forgotten. I think some of them change from time to time as well. LOVE the name of her blog! Missed Periods, LOL. I'll go check it out now :)

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  4. AnonymousMarch 28, 2011 at 8:55 AM

    LOL! I've never heard of that term either :O)

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  5. Carol KilgoreMarch 28, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Good for you! I love the name of her blog.

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  6. Julie HedlundMarch 28, 2011 at 9:56 AM

    I had never seen her blog before. Thanks for sharing. Fun ways to learn more about grammar and punctuation? Priceless.

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  7. Karen Jones GowenMarch 28, 2011 at 10:00 AM

    I didn't know it was called a comma splice but I can tell you it is a huge headache for a copy editor to go in and fix all those.

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  8. Michael Di GesuMarch 28, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    Never knew it was called that either. Great blogger site to learn about punctuation. Thanks, Joanna and good luck with the editing.

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  9. UnknownMarch 28, 2011 at 12:07 PM

    I love her blog. And yours. I often go there to learn new things about my favorite editing subject--grammar!

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  10. Golden EagleMarch 28, 2011 at 12:44 PM

    I didn't know that's what it was called! I do that, too--and sometimes I just put in commas where no punctuation's needed at all.

    Great post!

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  11. Old KittyMarch 28, 2011 at 2:17 PM

    Ye olde comma splices!! I had to have that term explained to me too!!!! Thanks for the link to Missed Periods - very handy and helpful!!

    And of course you are so near your dream - you just go girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You will do this and be all published!!! You will, you will,you will!! Yay!! Take care
    x

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  12. TaleiMarch 28, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    I've not heard of le olde comma splices, best I get over to her blog soon! Nice tip Jo, thanks for sharing!

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  13. Jolene PerryMarch 28, 2011 at 4:24 PM

    I am the QUEEN of comma splices...

    BUT I'm working on it...

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  14. erica and christyMarch 28, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    I am wildly prejudiced against semi-colons. Sorry, I know it is conduct unbecoming writer, but I don't like to see them. Do I have commas in stead of periods? Um, yeah, oh bumper.
    erica

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  15. NasMarch 28, 2011 at 4:40 PM

    Thanks for sharing, now I'm off to check out her site!

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  16. Sondrae BennettMarch 28, 2011 at 5:37 PM

    I've never heard that term again. Now I'm itching to go back through my WIP and find out if I do that, lol.

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  17. Sondrae BennettMarch 28, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    BEFORE not AGAIN. Obviously my brain is not working right now. Maybe I shouldn't work on my wip now, lol.

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  18. AnonymousMarch 28, 2011 at 10:33 PM

    I have an awesome editor who is always pointing stuff like this out. He tells me I like to write long sentences with lots of commas and to make two or three sentences out of them.

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  19. Colene MurphyMarch 29, 2011 at 7:27 AM

    Very cool! Will check out that blog, thanks for the link!

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  20. Talli RolandMarch 29, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    She's awesome, isn't she? I love how she makes grammar so much fun!

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  21. MTeacressMarch 29, 2011 at 9:07 PM

    I am aware of that problem but had no idea that's what it's called, thanks for the info, it looks like an old dog can learn new tricks after all. ;) Did you catch my splices?

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  22. Missed PeriodsMarch 30, 2011 at 4:14 PM

    Thank you so much for the shout out. You wrote such nice stuff about me, I might go off and read my blog now too.

    Good luck with the quest for punctuation perfection.

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  23. J.L. CampbellMarch 31, 2011 at 10:55 AM

    Good luck with the edits and thanks for the link.

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  24. KM NalleMarch 31, 2011 at 6:27 PM

    Learning right along with you! I'll go check out the blog right away.

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  25. Deniz BevanApril 10, 2011 at 12:10 PM

    Thanks for the link! Copy editing is the one thing I'm good at, and I think it's absolute fun. But I always feel bad at the same time, when I mark up people's writing, whether it's fiction or work-related stuff.

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