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Pith

September 2001:  Commas Achieve Clarity

Very often correctly placed commas do make a difference in how readers perceive meaning.  Make them reread a sentence more than once and you may lose them.  

Original

Better

Best

The city manager was fired, the police chief quit and divided, unruly Miami earned itself a new moniker: an American “banana republic.” L.A. Times, August 22, 2001

 

The city manager was fired, the police chief quit; and divided, unruly Miami earned itself a new moniker: an American “banana republic.”

 

The city manager was fired, the police chief quit –and divided, unruly Miami earned itself a new moniker: an American “banana republic.”

After her death, her son continued the struggle for vengeance leading an attack against the enemy in a distant town.

 

After her death, her son continued the struggle for vengeance, leading an attack against the enemy in a distant town.

 

After her death, her son continued the struggle for vengeance by leading an attack against the enemy in a distant town.

 

Unlike the boys who were schooled in the calmecac for several years, girls’ religious service was limited to one year and defined by the “domestic” chores of sweeping the temple and making food for the deity, whose idol they never saw as they were forbidden to go up the temple stairs

 

Unlike the boys who were schooled in the calmecac for several years, the girls’ religious service was limited to one year and defined by the “domestic” chores of sweeping the temple and making food for the deity, whose idol they never saw, as they were forbidden to go up the temple stairs.

 

Unlike the boys who were schooled in the calmecac for several years, girls’ religious service was limited to one year and defined by the “domestic” chores of sweeping the temple and making food for the deity, whose idol they never saw since they were forbidden to ascend the temple stairs.

 

Years ago a truck was a vehicle that was mainly used for work and accessories for those work trucks were usually developed to enhance the truck’s versatility in and around the job site without much regard for styling.

 

 

Years ago, a truck was a vehicle that was mainly used for work, and accessories for those work trucks were usually developed to enhance the truck’s versatility in and around the job site without much regard for styling.

 

 

Years ago, a truck was a vehicle that was mainly used for work, so accessories for those work trucks were usually developed to enhance the truck’s versatility in and around the job site without much regard for styling.

 

We want to make sure we educate the jobber salesman about our products and what makes them different and create the demand from the consumer for that jobber.

 

We want to make sure we educate the jobber salesman about our products and what makes them different, and create the demand from the consumer for that jobber.

 

To create consumer demand for what he sells, we want to make sure that we educate the jobber salesman about our products and what makes them different.

The suffix –xyz, which is completely apropos of the goddess ABC, in effect deifies the human ABC/DEF converting her into a legendary/mythic figure, a nascent goddess.

 

 

The suffix –xyz, which is completely apropos of the goddess ABC, in effect deifies the human ABC/DEF, converting her into a legendary/mythic figure, a nascent goddess

The suffix –xyz, completely apropos the goddess ABC, in effect deifies and converts the human ABC/EDF into the legendary and mythic figure of a nascent goddess.