Comma Usage and Placement
Not long ago I e-mailed Tobias Wolff, a Stanford professor and writer of the novels The Barracks Thief and Old School, for advice about comma usage and placement.
This was his response:
Dear Mr. Mowery,
Good question. These days I write with more attention to rhythm than to rules, which I have metabolized to the extent that I am hardly aware of them. As it happens I frequently tussle with NYer editors over commas. I think the Strunk & White house style sometimes leads to a halting, prissy, pedantic tone. For instance, I would simply write, The mall was closed, so without much thought they decided to go to the movies. Read Cormac McCarthy, Hemingway, Faulkner — they use commas as they will, much less frequently than the NYer would demand, to create their own music and velocity; and I am never in doubt as to their meaning. I take my lessons from writers rather than style manuals, though a grounding in the basics is essential before you begin to deviate from them.
best,
Tobias Wolff
His advice enlightened me: rhythm over rules.
