I discovered my disease in middle school. We had to write an essay about a weird visit to the dentist’s office; and our teacher decided to read his top favorites (i.e. with the most errors). My essay was second on his list! He read each sentence and would stop for a few seconds wherever there’s a comma (which was around 20 times per small paragraph). He said that I had good content there, but I used commas excessively.
That was when I realized that I just can’t write a sentence without putting at least a comma in it. It just felt wrong! I knew I needed to fix this soon since I was penalized for it in my examinations and this disease was getting me low grades. 😦
Apparently, I have been cured. I have written 2 sentences in the previous paragraph with no commas, and the commas are spread logically. How did I cure myself from this problem? I have no idea! It just happened. Am I doing it right? I don’t know! Hahaha! I think I reduced the amount of commas used not through a learned lesson, rather through what felt right.
I can now proudly say: I am no longer “The Comma User“!