By Fred Tarpley
Commerce, TX – Exasperated by stray or missing commas that account for a significant majority of mechanical errors in what may otherwise be competent writing, the Silver Leos Writers Guild is attempting to corral the maverick punctuation mark at a free workshop from 10 a.m. until 12 noon on Monday, June 13, in the Board Room of the Alumni Center at the corner of Stonewall and Bois d'Arc streets on the A&M-Commerce campus.
"Conquering the Comma" has been designed to explain why more and more writers are bewildered by commas and how to begin to understand them by mastering five fundamental uses," Vivian Freeman commented in extending an invitation to the public. "The workshop is ideal for secretaries, students, authors, office managers, or anyone seeking comfort with commas," she added. Dr. Fred Tarpley, advisor of the Silver Leos Writers Guild, will instruct the workshop.
Registration may completed by calling 903-886-6498 and leaving name, telephone, and email or land address. Enrollment is limited to the first fifty students.
The approach to conquering the comma will begin with an understanding of the forces of society that caused Americans to misuse this mark of punctuation, the primary traffic signal to guide readers through sentences. Among these influences are the myth that commas should be employed to indicate pauses, the negative punctuation examples permeating contemporary writing, and the loss of instruction of grammar and punctuation as systems.
The second phase of the workshop will present five fundamentals of comma usage in the following contexts: in a compound sentence, in a series of three or more items, after certain introductory elements, for setting off non-restrictive but not restrictive elements, and avoiding commas that create comma splices.
After each of the five fundamental practices, an exercise of ten sentences will test understanding of the concepts. At the end of the workshop, each participant will take home a comma punctuation exercise of one hundred sentences with an answer key explaining the reason for the correct answer and for each of the incorrect answers.
This workshop will emphasize applications of the conventions for the five fundamental uses presented instead of exceptions to the "basic" rules. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss the exceptions and options with the instructor by appointment.