I have a confession to make, I’m 32 years old and I don’t know how to use a comma. This is shocking, but true.
It all started 27 years ago when I was in kindergarten.

I grew up in New York City in the 1980’s. I was raised in the NYC public school system. At my schools, P.S.87, The Computer School, Booker T. Washington Junior High School 54, and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School For Music & Art and Performing Arts, I did not learn grammar. As a result, I don’t know how to use a comma correctly.


This became abundantly clear when I was hired for a freelance transcription job. I emailed my first draft of the transcript, and I received a long email back with many corrections. One of the main corrections that was pointed out to me is my overuse of commas. I’m not sure why, but apparently I love commas.

My education has failed me. I went to good schools, some of them were gifted and talented programs even, I am a graduate of NYU, but a comma defies me.
However, I’m done living in the past. It’s time to move on with my grammatical life.
I’m come to the realization that I need to seek help for this problem. I need a comma intervention. Can somebody please tell me how to use commas correctly? Thanks.