monstahunta said
I fucking hate commas. I know that commas come between two clauses, but I struggle to discern whether a comma would work in certain situations, or if I should place a period in its stead. >_>'
monstahunta said
The trouble comes in when I post longer, more detailed sentences. When I try to add atmosphere to a scene, or throw in an action that someone's doing while trying to be descriptive.
Not to be a bitch, but in your final sentences in each of these, right before the or you have placed commas. These are actually unnecessary as placed and technically incorrect *coughs* They're part of a list or an and/or statement in the manner you used. For listing, you add no commas until the list meets or exceeds 3 items. For and/or statements, there are no commas to be had. Typically, commas are employed as essentially a conjugation of two similar sentences, a separation between descriptive words and/or numbers in a sequence, or in replacement of the word and. Of course, it also signifies a change in the direction of speech, such as in providing further detail or giving words of sequence, follow-up or transition.
Generally, the way I tend to figure it out is by taking a brief pause. It should seem natural to pause in areas you placed a comma. If it starts to sound like its running too many thoughts together or starting to sound like you broke in the middle of a thought, you may have a misplaced comma. ; P
Additionally, in your second post you have a fragmented statement for your second sentence. If you had gone ahead and had the period as a comma, the comma later in that sentence preceding or would be correct as you would be providing a list of instances totaling 3 or more where you have trouble. :3
