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Comment by GrantMoyer

11 hours ago

Informally, commas are "misused" regularly even by native writers, and almost no one notices or cares unless the misuse is frequent and egregious.

Formally, most comma use is an issue of style, not grammar, and style guides differ on when they should and shouldn't be used. The main rule that's actually a matter of grammar is this: commas cannot be used to join two "clauses" (phrases which could be independent sentences) without a conjunction.

So putting the commas in "I'm eating a hot dog, she's listening to radio, we are having a wonderful time." is grammatically wrong? TIL, I guess.

  • English has no central authority, so the lines between grammar and style can get fuzzy. Most guides would say you need an "and" after the second comma, but some make an exception if the clauses are "very short and alike in form". See Wikipedia's article Comma splice if you are interested in the pedantics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_splice

    • You still didn't answer: am I supposed to write "I'm eating a hot dog she's listening to radio" without a comma for that sentence to be grammatical? Or am I supposed to always insert "and" into it?

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