Day 20: Comma, comma, comma, comma, comma chameleon.

I just started using an app called Grammarly, which monitors everything I type in this blog, on Facebook, in emails, and on message boards, and tells me what I'm doing wrong. I'm a terrible typist so it is forever flagging misspelled words, which are only misspelled because I've mistyped them, not because I'm a bad speller. My browser does have spellcheck for that so it's not, in and of itself, any more useful than spellcheck. But it also catches grammatical errors such as missing commas.

I'm a comma user. I've been accused of over-using them, and I have learned when I edit to cull them ruthlessly. Also, I like the Oxford comma and intend to use it as I see fit until I die because I'm a stickler for being correctly understood in written communications.

But Grammarly has been nagging me about OMITTING commas. Really? I under-use commas? Since when? Thing is, I don't always think Grammarly is correct. I wish I'd saved an example; so far it has not suggested a comma in this piece. (Please note the use of the semi-colon in the previous sentence, which many people feel is never necessary. I still love the semi-colon.)

So now I'm wondering who developed Grammarly's algorithm? Was it designed to give the most foolproof clarity in writing, or was it designed to work like a good human editor would work?

Either way, one thing is clear: I get sloppy in my online writing. Many of the suggestions are correct. I do sometimes omit commas. I've fallen victim to the deterioration of grammar skills we often blame on technology. I tell myself that if I was writing 'for real,' like a story or technical paper, I'd do better. But I want to write well everywhere. It's one of the things I like about myself.