This is an excerpt from my book
How to Start a Successful Proofreading Business
Introduction
Today when I was proofreading a book, I needed to confirm some
comma corrections I was making in the book, so I did some comma research.
Show of hands: How many of us would put a comma after today?
Hypothetical Poll
results
Yes: 347
No: 358
Don’t know: 496
How many errors are there?
Today, I saw a factoid that stated, "Half of all the
commas used in a book are wrong, and half of all the places where there is not
a comma and there should be are wrong."
Should the phrase “and there should be” have a comma before
and after it?
Should the a in “and there should be” be capitalized?
Corollaries:
- The writer will think half of all the comma corrections by the proofreader are wrong. The writer will be right half the time.
- Readers are wrong half the time they think they spot a comma error. Readers are wrong half the time when they do not spot an error.
- If the same document is sent consecutively to 10 proofreaders the number of comma errors will stay the same.
Should there be a comma after proofreaders? Is it
correct to put a comma after proofreaders?
What does this mean? Every comma used in a book has a 50%
chance of being wrong. For every comma in a book, there are an equal number of
places a comma should have been used but wasn't.
Would it be correct to put a comma after used? Is it incorrect to omit the comma?
The book I’m editing has about 8,700 commas and according
the half-wrong theory there are 17,400 comma errors.
Do we want to leave 8,700 errors in an 82,000 word book?
Wouldn’t a client be justified to refuse payment if we left 8.700 errors in
their book?
Sickening Examples
The reason these are sickening
examples is most of us will feel sick to our stomachs after reading them. Do
you?
Which
sentence is correct?
“Beverly come here!”
“Beverly, come here!
The answer is there is not enough
information to decide.
Should there be a comma after the
first is in the previous sentence?
Would it be wrong to put a comma after the first is?
Karen, my proofreader, will decide.
Or should it be, “Karen my
proofreader will decide.”
Is either choice correct? It
depends.
What I am doing about it
What do I always do when I want to learn something? I write
a book, right?
This time, I'm going to make a "book" for my
personal files. I will copy websites with comma rules into a Word document.
Many website creators copy Strunk and make their own examples.
Each time I suggest a comma correction, I will cut and paste
the rule, in shortened form, from my personalized comma document to the client’s
final draft in shortened form.
Would it be wrong to put a comma after document?
Can most of us define a parenthetical without Google? Can
we define an appositive without Google? Which one of these requires commas to
set apart a phrase? Which one of these prohibits the use of commas to set apart
a phrase?
By now, we are all squirming and wishing I didn’t broach
this topic – I know I am! I won’t ask if there should be a comma before “and!”
Take the "Hypothetical Comma Challenge!"
Hypothetical offer: I will proofread a document, of any length, for 5 cents for each comma in the document. I will also charge 5 cents for adding commas where there is not a comma.
If you need help, then "Comma" see me!
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