.In my writing experience, commas can be particularly tricky to use correctly. The main challenge arises in deciding when to set them in place, and when to omit them entirely, particularly with phrases like "which," "who," and "that" as relative pronouns or relative adverbs. These phrases often serve as non-essential information and are set off with commas in formal writing to improve clarity.Here are some examples:
Incorrect: - "She saw the man who she thought was a thief, but she realized later he was mistaken." - "He wanted to go to the movies, which his wife was against, so they had an argument."
Correct: - "She saw the man, who she thought was a thief, but realized later he was mistaken." - "He wanted to go to the movies, which his wife was against. So, they had an argument."
2.I'll provide a fictional example since I cannot recall a specific punctuation error from literature verbatim:
Original passage: - "The young boy, who lived in the woods, found a hidden treasure. He knew immediately, he had to show it to the old wizard, but it was too risky."
Punctuation error: - "The young boy, who lived in the woods, found a hidden treasure. He knew immediately; he had to show it to the old wizard, but it was too risky."
The error here involves the use of semicolons and commas. In this context, a semicolon does not enhance readability or provide a natural connection between the two independent clauses. Instead, they are separated by a comma, as semicolons are generally used to connect two closely related clauses that could stand alone as complete sentences, while commas are used for a slight pause within a sentence.
Correct passage: - "The young boy, who lived in the woods, found a hidden treasure. He knew immediately he had to show it to the old wizard; but it was too risky."
In the corrected passage, a comma is appropriate after the phrase "old wizard" because the second clause is closely related to the first and does not stand alone as an independent thought. The semicolon correctly separates the two independent clauses indicating a direct relationship between them, although a period could also have been used here if the clauses were entirely sepa