Wikipedia:Comma test

This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community.

Sentences should still make sense after removing their commas. This does not mean that commas are useless indeed this sentence is really hard to read without one in between the clauses. Yet the comma is one of the most abused punctuations on Wikipedia because they tolerate substandard writing and content stuffing. The comma test helps to detect overuse of apposition and passive voice which alone composes a majority of awkwardness in a Wikipedia article. The test may in some cases detect elegant variation and redundant phrases. Do use common sense when using the comma test because it won't work at all in lists and quotes.

1. Paste the content to your sandbox
2. Edit the content in VisualEditor. The test may broke in source editor as explained shortly.
3. Hold down Ctrl+F or Cmd+F to activate the find and replace feature.
4. Type the comma at the find field and make sure that the replace field is empty. Then click "Replace all".
5. See if the sentences still hold up after the test.

• Taken from Venus: Solar days on Venus with a length of 117 Earth days are just about half as long as its solar year orbiting the Sun every 224.7 Earth days. The sentence makes total sense until the last clause "orbiting the Sun every 224.7 Earth days". Ditch it and the redundant "just" would give Solar days on Venus with a length of 117 Earth days are about half as long as its solar year. Chef's kiss – a delicious sentence. If you are so badly wanting to keep the "224.7" information here's another solution: A solar day on Venus is 117 Earth days long and its solar year is twice as long with a length of 224.7 Earth days.
• Taken from Military history: The dynamic nature of the discipline of military history is largely related to the rapidity of change the military forces and the art and science of managing them as well as the frenetic pace of technological development that had taken place during the period known as the Industrial Revolution and more recently in the nuclear and information ages. Though the comma test works poorly in lists it could still be a powerful tool in the right circumstances. In this case we can remove redundant adverbs and split the sentence into two. This is one solution to the comma test: The study of military history is dynamic due to changes in the military forces materiel and their management. Technology also play a big role in military history due to innovations spearheaded by the Industrial Revolution nuclear and information age.