The Oxford Comma & You: A Self-Help Piece for Aspiring Writers
As of late, I’ve been getting into the writing game. Not to toot my own horn (even though tooting your own horn is OK if you’ve earned it), but I’ve since been complimented on my writing. This inspired me to provide a peek into my process.
First, a little English lesson.
The Oxford Comma (n.): a great song by Vampire Weekend that makes my inner nerd giddy (check this link and see why this song is a work of grammatical genius and wit).
But seriously, the Oxford Comma is the comma that can be found after the second item in a list. Find it after the word “bananas,” here:
I purchased two apples, three bananas, and oranges at the market.
Although it’s considered an optional tool, no one — no one — seems to care enough to use it, even when it can make all the difference in a sentence:
I purchased two apples, three bananas and oranges at the market.
Without the Oxford Comma we don’t know how many oranges you purchased. It could have been three based on how this sentenced is structured, but it could also be literally any other number of oranges.
This bugs me.
The Oxford Comma was an optional tool I was taught in grade school English, and it was reinforced in high school by one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever had.
Her name was Mrs. Thornton. Over our two years together (I was one of the lucky few that was put in her class two years in a row), she embarrassed me, yelled at me, graded me on a scale from another planet, (*ahem* Oxford Comma) and turned me into the best writer I could be.
Although she got a bad rep sometimes, I grew to truly admire her and respect her as an educator. Her teaching and writing methods were strange, but so was I. So it vibed with me.
When we had a paper due, we were to bring it in just as we would for any other class: freshly printed and stapled, MLA style, double-spaced — the whole package — and then she’d make us tear it apart.
We would spend an entire class destroying what we worked so hard to write.
Why? Because your best work was never in that copy you thought was ready to turn in. Your best work was waiting on the other end of that editing session, after you’d had some time away from it.
This sounds excessive, especially when she graded us partly on the amount of edits we made — in addition to our fresh, revised copies, our blacked-out, annihilated versions were to be submitted as well.
But it freaking works. I use this method to this day. Even this article is an umteenth version of itself.
So here’s what I’ll leave you with:
Write.
Write from your heart and soul. Let your thoughts on the subject matter at hand pour right out of your brain and onto the paper or screen. Don’t worry about proper grammar, spelling or even, dare I say, properly placed Oxford Commas. Just get your ideas out into a first draft.
Edit.
Edit like your life depended on it. Scratch out unnecessary themes, re-structure your sentences, eliminate any instances of passive voice, turn it inside-out. By the end of this step you should be looking at a completely new piece of writing.
Walk Away.
Give yourself a bit of time away from it. Don’t look at it for an hour or even a day or two. Let it simmer. Let your brain develop new points or arguments. When applicable, this time also allows you to gather even more insight into the given subject should your writing need more support.
Edit Again.
Do it again. You’ll be surprised how much more clarity you gain when you’ve had a night or two away from it and can give it a fresh pair of eyes. Soon after, you’ll be looking at your final draft and the best version of that piece of writing.
Remember: writing’s not going away, it’s just going digital. And good grammar still counts.
Aleksa Narbutaitis is the Creative Director at SimplyBe. Agency.
Join my #badassniche following on Instagram + Twitter: @alnarbuu.
