Commas

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Commas
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Commas
No price too high! No, price too high! Lets
talk turkey. Lets talk, turkey. Woman
without her man is nothing. Woman! Without
her, man is nothing.
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Commas should be used to . . .

• separate items in a series of three or more.
• set off introductory and parenthetical phrases.
• set off appositives.

• set off nonrestrictive clauses.
• set off parts of dates and addresses.
• set off parts of compound and complex sentences.

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Commas separate items in a series of three or
more.

• Each item in a series can consist of one word or
  more than one word.
• Tom, Dick, and Harry all came to the party.
• I cant decide if I want to sleep in, go jogging,
  or get started on my next essay.

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Commas set off introductory and parenthetical
phrases.

• introductory phrasesphrases that begin a
  sentence
• On Saturdays, I go to school.
• conjunctive adverbs and transitionals
• My boss wants me to work on Saturdays however, I
  need to attend class.
• parenthetical expressionsafterthought words
  that interrupt the main sentence
• She, of course, has no sympathy for me.

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Commas set off appositives.

• An appositive is a word or word group that
  identifies, describes, or renames a noun or
  pronoun.
• Appositives can appear at the beginning, middle,
  or end of a sentence.
• Place commas on either side of an appositive in
  the middle of a sentence.
• Dr. Shabazz, our math professor, is considered
  hard but fair.

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Commas set off nonrestrictive clauses.

• A nonrestrictive clause is not necessary to the
  meaning of a sentence. You could delete it, and
  the sentence would still make sense.
• Put commas on both sides of a nonrestrictive
  clause when it falls in the middle of the
  sentence.
• Sandra, who is regularly late, turns in the best
  essays.

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Commas set off parts of dates.

• Use commas to separate the day of the week from
  the month and the day of the month from the year.
• I got my first job on Monday, January 28,1993.
• When a date that includes commas falls in the
  middle of a sentence, place a comma after the
  date.
• August 30, 2004, was our first day of school.

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Commas set off parts of addresses.

• Use commas in addresses to separate the street
  address from the city and the city from the state
  or country.
• The new restaurant is at 3020 Market Street,
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• When an address that includes commas falls in the
  middle of a sentence, place a comma after the
  state or country.
• The annual gem show in Franklin, North Carolina,
  is world famous.

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Comma summary Use commas to . . .

• separate items in a series of three or more.
• set off introductory phrases and parenthetical
  phrases.
• set off appositives.

• set off nonrestrictive clauses.
• set off parts of dates and addresses.
• set off parts of compound and complex
  sentences.

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Do NOT use commas . . .

• before the first element of a series or after the
  last.
• When school ends, I am going to , sleep late
  every Saturday, go out every Friday, and forget
  about commas for at least a day.
• Sleeping, partying, and ignoring commas ,
  sounds pretty good to me.

X
X
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Do NOT use commas . . .

• between a subject and its verb.
• The computer at the end of the
• table , doesnt seem to be working.

X
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Do NOT use commas . . .

• before FANBOYS when the FANBOYS are not
  connecting two complete sentences.
• Workbook exercises , and grammar are my two
  favorite activities.
• Theres nothing more exciting than getting up
  early in the morning , and driving to school.
• To check the rule, look on both sides of the
  FANBOYS conjunction used to see if you can make
  two sentences. In this case, look at the word and
  to see if there is a sentence on either side. If
  not, then no comma should be there.

X
X
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Do NOT use commas . . .
before a group of words beginning with that. We
all said , that we understand commas. Please
give us the test , that has the easiest questions.
X
X
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WARNING!!! Dont go comma crazy!

• Now that you know the proper uses for commas,
  resist the urge to use one every time youre
  unsure. Dont give in to comma-itis!
• Take your time check the rules.
• And, finally, remember
• When in doubt, leave it out!

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To review comma dos and donts, see Chapter 31.