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Rules for Comma Usage

Rules for Comma Usage. - Commas are used to indicate a pause or a change in thought. Commas are used to keep words and ideas from running together, making writing easier to read. No other form of punctuation is more important to understand than the comma. 1. Between Items in a Series.

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Rules for Comma Usage

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  1. Rules for Comma Usage -Commas are used to indicate a pause or a change in thought. Commas are used to keep words and ideas from running together, making writing easier to read. No other form of punctuation is more important to understand than the comma.

  2. 1. Between Items in a Series • Commas are used between words, phrases, or clauses in a series. (A series contains at least three items.) • Ex/ Spanish, French, and German are the languages most often taught in schools today, but Chinese, English, and Hindi are the languages spoken by the most people in the world.

  3. 2. To Keep Numbers Clear • Commas are used to separate the digits in a number. • Ex/ In 1995, the total number of immigrants to the United States was 720,461.

  4. 3. In Dates and Addresses • Commas are used to distinguish items in an address and items in a date. • Ex/ On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. • The address of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., is 449 Auburn Ave. N., Atlanta, GA 3012

  5. 4. To Set Off Dialogue • Commas are used to set off the exact words of the speaker from the rest of the sentence. • Ex/ The electronics executive said, “Did you know that computers can now speak with a Texas drawl?”

  6. 5. To Set Off Interruptions • Commas are used to set off a word, phrase, or clause that interrupts the main thought of a sentence. Such expressions can usually be identified through the following tests: • They may be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. • They may be placed nearly anywhere in the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence. • Ex/ Computers, as we all know, are getting smaller. You may someday, for example, own a wristwatch computer.

  7. 6. To Set Off Interjections • A comma is used to separate an interjection or a weak exclamation from the rest of the sentence. • Ex/ No kidding, you mean someday computers may be sewn into our clothing?

  8. 7. In Direct Address • Commas are used to separate a noun of direct address from the rest of the sentence. (A noun of direct address is the noun that names the person spoken to in a sentence.) • Ex/ Jill, listen to this. • That’s nothing, Jack.

  9. 8. To Enclose Information • Commas are used to enclose a title, a name, or initials that follow a person’s last name. • Ex/ Melanie Prokat, M.D., and Gerald Sahn, Ph.D., admitted that they can’t program their alarm clocks.

  10. 9. Between Two Independent Clauses • A comma may be used between two independent clauses that are joined by coordinate conjunctions such as and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet. • Ex/ Many businesses are selling their products on the Internet, and on-line buying has become popular with millions of people.

  11. 10. To Separate Clauses and Phrases • A comma should separate an adverb clause or a long modifying phrase from the independent clause that follows it. • Ex/ If everyone shops on the Internet, what will happen to shopping malls? • According to the experts, shopping malls may one day be as hard to find as drive-in movie theaters.

  12. 11. To Separate Adjectives • Commas are used to separate two or more adjectives that equally modify the same noun. • Ex/ Many intelligent, well-educated scientists think that one of Jupiter’s 16 moons shows signs of life. • Intelligent and well-educated are separated by a comma because they modify scientists equally. • Ex/ In 2004, scientists hope to send a space probe to this cold Jovian moon. • Cold and Jovian do not modify moon equally; therefore, no comma separates the two. • Rules to help determine if you need a comma: • Switch the order of the adjectives; if the sentence is clear, the adjectives modify equally. • Put the word and between the adjectives; if the sentence reads well, use a comma when and is taken out.

  13. 12. To Set Off Phrases • Commas are used to separate an explanatory phrase from the rest of the sentence. • Ex/ English, the language computers speak worldwide, is also the most widely used language in science and medicine.

  14. 13. To Set Off Appositives • An appositive is a word or phrase that identifies or renames a noun or pronoun. • Ex/ COBOL, a programming language that is based on English words and phrases, was invented by Grace Hopper, a U.S. Navy admiral.

  15. 14. To Set Off Nonrestrictive Phrases and Clauses • Commas are used to punctuate nonrestrictive phrases and clauses (those phrases or clauses that are not necessary to the basic meaning of the sentence). • Ex/ We get our water from the 1 percent that is left from the oceans and frozen water, which comes from the earth’s surface or groundwater.

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