King of the Comma Splice

King of the Comma Splice

What is the most crucial factor if a person wishes to become a productive and successful writer?  Discipline? The fortitude to read lots and lots of books?  Education in the way of words?  Plenty of interesting and unusual life experiences? While all those things are important, I think there is another answer to the question.  Look no further than a competent and thoughtful editor.  Writing without an editor is very difficult, I know; I have never had one.  I have always had to edit everything myself.  That is, until recently…

I bought the Grammarly program a year or so ago.  It is fantastic.  It picks up many of the things I might miss while tapping away at the keys.  I will never write without it.  I wish I had it years ago; it would have made my life a lot easier.

Grammarly is a sophisticated program.  It asks for the style of writing you are striving for and then adjusts its comments accordingly.  And without it, I would never have known that I am the undisputed King of the Comma Splice.  After I finish the first draft of anything I am writing, and I tend to write very sloppy first drafts, I stop to read all of Grammarly’s suggestions.  The number one issue is always the comma splice.

A comma splice is a misuse of the comma.  The standard definition is that two independent clauses are improperly joined by a comma.  An independent clause is a group of words that can stand alone as their own sentence.  Here is an example:

Koala bears are not actually bears, they are marsupials.

I took this directly from the Grammarly website.  Of course, as soon as I typed it, my Grammarly program flagged it as a comma splice.  I like this example because I don’t see much wrong with the sentence.  It is the type of sentence I tend to write in first or second drafts.  The issue is that there is a consensus that the comma is not appropriate to use in this situation.  Grammarly always suggests that I replace it with a semicolon or split the sentence in two.

Here is another example from a couple of paragraphs ago:

I wish I had it years ago; it would have made my life a lot easier.

As soon as I typed that sentence, it was flagged.  The message was polite, more polite than my mental response.  Yes, of course, it is a comma splice.  Isn’t every sentence I write a comma splice?  As you can see, I chose a semicolon over splitting the sentence in two.  Nothing more than personal preference, nothing else to see here.  Let’s move along.

So, I have made it pretty clear that I know how to write with comma splices, and I also know how to edit my writing and fix them.  The title of this post says it all.  What you don’t know is that there is a Queen of the Comma Splice, and she writes far more of them than I could hope for.  The thing is, she leaves them in.  She does not take them out or massage her sentences in any meaningful way.  What is the big deal?  Well, millions of young people read her books, and she has tremendous influence over them.  Ostensibly, they are learning how to write while they are reading.  Her name is JK Rowling.  If you have been living on the moon, she wrote the Harry Potter books.

As I was researching the comma splice, I came across a bunch of angry and concerned English teachers. They have strong feelings about Rowling’s writing.  They are very upset at all the comma splices that can be found in her books.  Apparently, they number in the thousands.  I have never read her books, so I can’t speak to what may or may not be in there.  Other people, though, have gone through the texts and counted the comma splices.  I guess she really likes them.  I must admit I find it curious that she uses them.  I find it even more curious that her editor does not insist the sentences be changed.

There are instances where comma splices can be used to significant effect.  You can use such sentences to create specific moods if you are so inclined.  I think the type of mood being implied by a comma splice will get 10 different answers from 10 different writers.  I think most writers would just insert a semicolon and move on to the next paragraph.

In this post, we have learned that I am the King of the Comma Splice. Still, I must bend the knee to the undisputed Queen, the prolific and wealthy creator of Harry Potter and the world he inhabits.  It really is curious, isn’t it?  Maybe one day, she will ask to write a guest post on my blog explaining her position. We all know that is not going to happen, she will never make such an offer.  And yes, that last sentence is a comma splice.  I just can’t help myself.