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Overused commas are quite annoying, as is the near-absence of them. Commas separate items in a list; independent clauses; follow introductory clauses, phrases, or words; and set off clauses, phrases, and words not essential to the sentence's meaning. The also precede quotation marks most of the time and separate coordinate adjectives and contrasted coordinate elements. Don't use commas to set off important information, such as clauses beginning with "that." Do not use commas to separate the subject from the verb; separate two verb phrases in a compound predicate; or separate nouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses. Also don't place a comma after the main clause when a subordinate clause follows it (except in cases of extreme contrast). Colons are tricky but mercifully rare. The rules are simple: Colons belong after a complete statement to introduce one or more directly related ideas (directions, a list, a quotation, etc.), in a business letter greeting, between the hour and minutes in time notation, and between chapter and verse in biblical references. DO NOT PUT A COLON AT THE END OF A CLAUSE IF THE CLAUSE CANNOT STAND BY ITSELF. GOD DAMN. Semicolons are comparatively obvious. They separate independent clauses in lieu of a comma and conjunction, and you can use them to separate items in a list if the list already contains commas. I did that in the first paragraph up there; I use semicolons all the damn time. It's a great way of avoiding too many short sentences; I think a lot of writing could benefit from increased semicolon usage. |