The evil of the comma

A good piece of writing has few commas.

If you use few commas, it indicates you are writing well.

Among other things, a limited use of commas, to all intents and purposes, suggests the writer knows what they are doing.

Only the first of these sentences is always true. You can tell because it contains no commas. Simply removing commas is not a solution, however. Commas have a useful function in separating parts of a sentence so our reader can understand it. But an overuse of commas suggests that a sentence could be written in a better way.

Solution 1

Change the order: it gets rid of the comma and makes the sentence more elegant.

If you use few commas, it indicates you are writing well.

becomes

(it indicates) You are writing well if you use few commas.

The redunant phrase it indicates somehow becomes more obvious this way round. It can go.


Solution 2

Simplify the sentence. Maybe you need more that one.

Among other things, a limited use of commas, to all intents and purposes, suggests the writer knows what they are doing.

becomes

A limited use of commas suggests the writer knows what they are doing. It is only an indication and there are other things to look out for.


You will produce clearer writing if you can work out how to do without the comma. You will also be more concise.


Thanks to Roy for suggesting the topic after he noticed a New Scientist article containing few commas.