My favorite author and sometime conservative commentator Mark Helprin once talked about the battles he carried with his editor over commas. Another favorite author, name withdrawn, over two dozen literary mysteries published, used in one of them the word “peddle” for “pedal”, three times, a common error on these pages, where I saw it for the first time, by the way. I contacted him on Fakebook, and, admitting his mistake, he wrote that the proof reader goofed. I didn’t have the nerve to ask a follow-up question, but did he have an editor? Do editors catch and correct such errors?
Commas are not worth fighting about, if it’s only a style issue. And each publishing house has it’s own style sheet. I basically assume that the proofreader knows more than I do. But sometimes meaning changes with comma placement, so you have to watch for those. Peddle/pedal - a funny error. I’m visualizing a peddler pedaling his cart. Sounds like a spellcheck glitch.
Recently, I told a friend of mine that I do NOT need reining in, I need encouragement. A couple of days later, I saw almost the same sentence in an article by an author who writes for Psychology Today, Harvard School of Public Health, Salon, Chicago Trib, etc. Except she said “reigning in.” Guess we know who she thinks she is. LOL