Comma Controversy! Incorrect: "I swing bats, and squish spiders."

Commas are a matter of style, hence they are a never-ending, circus-like bowl of jiggly, jolly controversy. One teacher will tell you your sentence needs a comma; another will tell you to leave the comma out. That's because style manuals like MLA, Chicago Manual of Style, The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, etc. have developed individual standards. Publishers and publication companies choose a style guide and stick with it.

For today, let's follow the rule used in Chicago Manual of Style, and The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation.

Concept A.
Incorrect: "I swing bats, and squish spiders."
Correct: "I swing bats and squish spiders."

No comma is needed for this sentence, because the "and" conjoins a combo verb (AKA compound predicate). Notice that the person doing the action (the subject) is only mentioned once, before the first verb. Today's combo verb is "swing and squish." If the subject does not appear in front of the second verb, do not use a comma.

If the person doing the action were mentioned before both verbs, you could use a comma, as in:

Concept B.
Correct: "I swing bats, and I squish spiders."

On the other hand, although we usually use a comma to separate two clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction ("and"), some editors will tell you not to use a comma for Concept B, because you can omit the comma if the clauses are both short. So, I should have written,

Concept B. (Take Two)
Correct: "I swing bats, and I squish spiders."
Also Correct: "I swing bats and I squish spiders."

Incorrect: "They sold the tickets to Chantal and I."

Concept A
Incorrect: "They sold the tickets to Chantal and I."
Correct: "They sold the tickets to Chantal and me."

Does that surprise you? If you're like me, this might be making your head itchy. I know how to make you feel better.

The Thumb Test!
Cover "Chantal and" with your thumb and read each option aloud. "They sold tickets to . . . me" vs. "They sold tickets to . . . I." Now you can hear and see that "me" sounds better than "I."

But why didn't it sound right before? Sometimes we feel weird saying "me" in combination with another person's name. That's probably because we confuse Concept A with a rule most of us know very well:

Concept B
Incorrect: (Hillbillie accent) "Me and Chantal done bought the tickets."
Correct: (English Butler accent) "Chantal and I bought the tickets."

But look carefully at the difference between the two concepts. Concept A puts you and your friend Chantal at the end of the sentence, after the verb. You two are part of the predicate, you're the indirect objects of the verb. In other words, you are not doing the action of the sentence (selling tickets), you are receiving it. 

In Concept B, you and Chantal come before the verb. You're doing the action of the sentence, which makes you two the subjects of the sentence. When using pronouns, double-check your writing to make sure your subject is a subject pronoun, and your object is an object pronoun.

Subject Pronouns (Doing the action of the sentence). AKA Nominative Pronouns

I, you, he, she, it, we, they


Object Pronouns (Receiving the action of the sentence). AKA Objective Pronouns

Me, you, him, her, it, us, them


Any questions? Okay, great. Bye--have a nice day!
 . . . unless you're ready for the . . .


BONUS ROUND!
Subject pronouns are not always at the beginning of the sentence, and object pronouns are not always at the end of the sentence. Pronouns that follow state of being verbs like "is" or "seem" are often subject pronouns as in:

(Phone Call) "Hello, may I speak to Beverly?"
"Yes, this is she."

We'll talk more about this one later. :)

Incorrect: "James' friend" (the singular possessive)

Incorrect: James' friend.
Correct: James's friend.

"James' friend" would mean that there are several Jameses, and that the friend in question is one all the Jameses share in common. That's probably not what you want.

"James's friend" is a friend of James. That's the one you want. Form the possessive of singular nouns by adding

's

even when the singular noun is a name that ends with "s."

EXCEPTIONS
(The possessives of ancient deities or prophets)
Isis' temple
Moses' Laws
Zeus' whim