English Language Help Desk. Skip to content. Rules for comma usage By Marina Pantcheva The comma is perhaps the most puzzling mark of punctuation. Rule of thumb: a comma indicates a pause in speech. Compare the two sentences: 3 The students who passed the exam went on a fieldwork trip. Below follow a few rules about how to use commas correctly. Rule 1: Use commas in a series of three or more items.
Normally, the last item in the series is preceded by and, or, or nor. Coordinate adjectives describe the noun separately. There are two easy ways for testing whether the adjectives are coordinate or not and -test: if you can put and between the adjectives without changing the meaning, then the adjectives are coordinate, e.
Non-coordinate adjectives should not be separated by a comma. Introductory phrases that need to be separated by a comma include: 1. Participial phrases using the — ing form of the verb 18 Having finished the meeting, the committee members went back to their offices.
Introductory words, such as however, consequently, hence, thus, nevertheless, etc. Do not use commas to separate essential parts of the sentence. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Proudly powered by WordPress. Theme: Coraline by WordPress. It was sadly the last day of camp. It was, sadly, the last day of camp. Mary unlike Anne is very organized. Mary, unlike Anne, is very organized. A question tag is a short phrase or even a single word that is added to the end of a statement to turn it into a question.
Writers often use question tags to encourage readers to agree with them. A question tag should be preceded by a comma. I know, right? Hello, Chester. An appositive is a word or phrase that refers to the same thing as another noun in the same sentence. Often, the appositive provides additional information about the noun or helps to distinguish it in some way.
If you could remove the appositive without changing the meaning of the sentence, it is said to be nonessential and should be set off with commas. Nonessential appositives: My sister, Angela, is a wonderful cook.
Chocolate, my favorite treat, always makes me feel better after a bad day. July 4, , was an important day in American history. I was born on Sunday, May 12, Applications are due by 31 December Please join us on Saturday, June 14, , for the marriage of Annie and Michael.
The region experienced record rainfall in March When multiple adjectives modify a noun to an equal degree , they are said to be coordinate and should be separated by commas.
One way to tell whether the adjectives are coordinate is to try switching the order of them. If the sentence still sounds natural, the adjectives are coordinate. That man is a pompous, self-righteous, annoying idiot. That man is a self-righteous, annoying, pompous idiot. The sweet, scintillating aroma of cinnamon buns filled the kitchen.
The scintillating, sweet aroma of cinnamon buns filled the kitchen. The adorable, little boy was eating ice cream. The adorable little boy was eating ice cream. My teacher is tough, but fair. My teacher is tough but fair. Life is, but a dream. Life is but a dream. My dog Charlie is cute, and smart. My dog Charlie is cute and smart. When correcting a comma splice , that is when joining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, put the comma before and.
Julie loves ice cream books and kittens. Julie loves ice cream, books, and kittens. Julie loves ice cream, books and kittens.
The comma before the and in a list of three or more items is optional. See below under Serial Comma for more information. Your list might be made up of nouns, as in the example above, but it could also be made up of verbs, adjectives, or clauses.
Imagine, for a moment, that you have just finished doing three chores. The chores were:. I cleaned the house and garage, raked the lawn, and took out the garbage. I cleaned the house and garage, raked the lawn and took out the garbage. As mentioned above, when you are listing three or more items, commas should separate each element of the list. However, the final comma—the one that comes before the and —is optional.
This comma is called the serial comma or the Oxford comma. Mary needs bread, milk, and butter at the grocery store. With serial comma Mary needs bread, milk and butter at the grocery store.
Without serial comma. Whether or not you use the serial comma is a style choice. Many newspapers do not use it. Many trade books do use it. Rule: Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction and, but, yet, so, or nor, for when it joins two complete ideas independent clauses. Rule: Use a comma after an introductory clause or phrase.
A comma tells readers that the introductory clause or phrase has come to a close and that the main part of the sentence is about to begin. Rule: Use a comma to separate each item in a series; a series is a group of three or more items having the same function and form in a sentence. Rule: Use commas to enclose clauses not essential to the meaning of a sentence. These nonessential clauses are called nonrestrictive. Clauses which are essential are called restrictive.
Both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses may begin with a relative pronoun such as who, whom, whose, that, which. A relative pronoun refers to the noun or pronoun that precedes it.
Rule: An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames a nearby noun. Appositives offer nonessential information. Nonrestrictive appositives are set off with commas; restrictive appositives are not. Rule: When a speaker in a sentence names the person to whom he is speaking, this addressing of his audience is called direct address.
Direct address is indicated by the use of a comma or commas, depending upon its placement within the sentence. Rule: A dialogue is a conversation between two or more people.
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