The comma that changes everything!
Most people think of commas as creating ‘pauses’. But that’s not, strictly, true. Commas create meaning.
As a teacher, my life was filled with stress - so, using that to model the impact of the comma, here’s a demonstration of how the comma can make a big difference to meaning.
1. Teachers who are stressed make mistakes.
This means that only the stressed teachers make mistakes.
(“who are stressed” restricts the meaning.)
2. Teachers, who are stressed, make mistakes.
This means that all teachers are stressed, and they make mistakes.
(“who are stressed” is additional information.)
A pair of commas — or the absence of them — changes the entire meaning of the sentence.
Proofreading is about ensuring that the final text conveys exactly what the author intended it to mean - correct use of commas is absolutely critical to that.