Bad Comma!

rogersgeorge on June 22nd, 2023

We English teachers/tech writers/curmudgeons have an informal rule:

Never separate a subject and verb with an odd number of commas. The way this sentence does:

But that otherwise mundane act, has sparked a state investigation.
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/

Put no comma between “act” and “has”! Harrumpf.

I like my posts to have pictures, so here’s a picture from the movie that the essay containing the bad sentence is about:

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Rogers George has been a technical writer for more than 20 years. He has written on subjects as diverse as outhouse assembly, restaurant reviews, software, information security, and scientific equipment. He has his own writing consultancy and is always happy to discuss writing and grammar. Drop him a line at curmudgeon@writing-rag.com.

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