Proofing Your Work for Comma Usage Errors

I confess- I am addicted to commas! I have to proof my work carefully because I often add commas to my sentences unconsciously. Thus, I often use them without any regard for whether they are really needed or proper.

I cannot rely on my word program grammar checker alone to catch these punctuation mistakes for me either. Just as it is not wise to rely solely on the spell-checking feature of your document program to find misspelled words, it is not wise to assume that the grammar check feature will uncover every instance of improper grammar usage in your article or document.

Use the spelling and grammar usage checking features of your document program for sure. Yet, you will need to proof your work yourself as well to ensure it is free of errors before you send it someone else to view.

Here are two good tutorials on the proper use of commas put out by the English department at Purdue University to help you in proofing your work. Proofing for Commas, and Further Comma Use Rules.

As easy to understand as the information presented in these tutorials is, I cannot say that it will stop me from placing unnecessary commas in my work. I guess I will have to take a one-day-at-a-time approach to resolving my problem of overusing commas like people with other addictions do.

Proof, Proof, and Proof Some More!

The importance of proofing your work before sending it out to clients, or displaying it somewhere for other people to read cannot be overstated. It can sometimes be difficult to proof and edit your own work. The following tips may help you to better proof your work to ensure that it is error free.

1. After you have written or typed your piece, click on your tools menu and run a spelling and grammar check if you have those tools available to you. Correct any highlighted mistakes. Do not depend on these program tools only in proofing your work. It will skip over words spelled correctly, but words you may not have intended to use in your sentence. The show will go on rain ore shine. That sentence does not make sense although there are no errors in spelling. The show will go on rain or shine. This second sentence makes sense. There are many other instances of words having close spellings and very different meanings that spelling tools may miss.


2. Read your document through to get a sense of how it sounds (reads.) Does your document have a natural and sequential flow to it? It helps to get a trusted friend or editor to read your work for you as it can often be hard for writers to separate how their brains say it should read, and how it would actually sound to readers. You can do this on your own. Only you may have to put it away and come back to it several different times to make sure it reads well.


3. Now go through your document again one sentence at a time, reading each sentence aloud and making any changes to your sentences that you think are necessary.


4. After you have done a sentence-by-sentence check of your document, it is time to read your entire document again. Why should you do all of this reading and re-reading? Because, you want to make sure that your written works are as free from errors as possible. Your works are representative of your writing skill. You do not want easily correctable mistakes to shout to readers, “Hey, look at me, I cannot spell or use grammar properly.”


5. Save and close your document and do something else for a while. For how long is up to you. Many writers will set aside their completed works for a day before going back to them again for one final reading When you have cleared your head from your previous proofreading of your document, open it for a final reading to make sure it reads exactly as you want it to.

I hope you found this article on proofreading your work helpful. We will be discussing other mechanics in writing in future articles.

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