Another Comma Question

[Yssimnar]

#1. "I would have liked a more concise use of scripture or an explanation of the significant parts." I was docked for not having a comma after "scripture". I don't think I was wrong to leave it out.

#2 "Also, I wasn’t always sure if the narration was expressing her thoughts at the time of the events, or if they were her present-day thoughts reflecting on the past." The editor said that the clause following the conjunction "or" is a dependent clause. The comma should be omitted.

These notes from the editors seem contradictory. I agree with the second one, but not the first one. Thoughts?

[CommMayo]

Personally, I think nether sentences require commas. My litmus is: can the part of the sentence after the conjunction stand as its own sentence? If you can answer “yes” you should use a comma.

[DATo]

The rules of using commas have always been an enigma to me. There are times when the use of a comma is obvious for clarity of meaning, but there are other times when they are just a damned nuisance. A question mark, an explanation mark, a period - even a hyphen or semicolon - I can live with, but commas are like ants at a picnic; you have to check constantly to make sure you don't have one crawling on the bottom of your sandwich. Often I find myself starring at a page wondering if I should include a comma or not at some specific location. It's an experience much like looking at pepper and wondering if there is any fly poop in it. "Should I use this pepper or not? It doesn't look like fly poop, but then I'm not exactly sure what fly poop looks like." So you just sit there looking at the pepper while the ants eat your sandwich.

I just throw commas around like sofa pillows and let them land where they choose. If I have too many I take a few out, put them in the freezer, and save them for my, next, writing, project.

[MrsCatInTheHat]

Personally, I think nether sentences require commas. My litmus is: can the part of the sentence after the conjunction stand as its own sentence? If you can answer “yes” you should use a comma.

I agree. Neither of those sentences should have a comma as the conjunction can't stand alone in either of them.