Comma Down!

Aren't you supposed to put a comma between adjectives when there's a list? My professor says I use too many commas. -All commad out.

Editors (and perhaps professors) are using fewer commas these days. Commas are often omitted after short introductory clauses, before and after short parenthetical clauses, and sometimes between short independent clauses. But, lucky us, there is one rule of thumb we can consider when we're listing adjectives:

If you can't replace the comma with the word "and," don't put one there (except for the serial comma).

The hungry brown bear was eating blueberries, huge summer walnuts, and a mound of great big dried leaves.

1. Don't put a comma between "hungry" and "brown," because you wouldn't say "a hungry and brown bear."
2. Don't put a comma between "huge" and "summer," because a "summer walnut" is a single entity. You wouldn't say, "a huge and summer walnut."
3. Don't put a comma between "great" and "big" or between "big" and "dried," because you wouldn't say "a mound of great and big and dried leaves."

If you need further explanation, feel free to email or post an example from your own writing.