When Evan was ready to iron, his cat tripped on the cord. Near a small stream at the bottom of the canyon, park rangers discovered a gold mine. Use a comma between all items in a series 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. We bought apples, peaches, and bananas today. Use commas to set off nonrestrictive clauses Rule: Use commas to enclose clauses not essential to the meaning of a sentence.
Steven Strom, whose show you like, will host a party next week. Use a comma to set off appositives Rule: An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames a nearby noun. Alexander Pope, the Restoration poet, is famous for his monologues. Use a comma to indicate direct address Rule: When a speaker in a sentence names the person to whom he is speaking, this addressing of his audience is called direct address.
Use commas to set off direct quotations Rule: A dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. Use commas with dates, addresses, titles, and numbers Rules for dates: In dates, the year is set off from the rest of the sentence with a pair of commas. At the end of a sentence, you will find a full stop. This is an indication that the sentence is over. However, a comma will indicate that you should take a smaller break. And, might also be referred to as a soft pause. It can separate ideas within a sentence, clauses, and words.
There are a few rules about how to use a comma and a few factors that can help you choose if you should use one or not. Some parts of grammar are easy to understand. For example when you should use a capital letter, and when you should use a full stop. Here are some key places you should or should not be using a comma. When you are introducing a sentence, you will most often use a comma. Here is an example:. When the show is over, Richard will come home. Clutching her keys, Rachel ran out of the building.
If the phrase is longer than four words, most often, there should be a comma. If you want to pause for effect, you can also add a comma. Before drinking the group said cheers! Before drinking, the group said cheers! As you can see, the lack of a comma here makes a significant impact on what is happening.
Compare the two sentences:. The sentence without comma means that only those students who passed the exam went on a trip. The sentence with commas means that all students went on a fieldwork trip, and they all, by the way, passed the exam. The comma placed before and or, nor is not obligatory, but it is recommended because it sometimes disambiguates the sentence.
Sentence 6 means that Tom likes fish and chips, and he also likes toasts. Without the comma before and it is unclear how to group the last three items. Separating complicated and coordinate by a comma is incorrect, as the two adjectives are not coordinate coordinate complicated adjectives means something else. Be careful to use a comma only when the part after and, or, nor, but, etc. If it is not, then no comma should be used. An easy way to determine whether the second part of the sentence is a full clause is to see whether it has its own [subject].
If it does, then it is a full clause. For instance, the second clause in example 11 has the subject John, different from the subject the rain in the first clause. Similarly, the second clause in example 12 has its own subject, she , which, accidentally, refers to the same person as the subject in the first clause Marta.
This plays no role; what matters here is that there is a second subject present. Be sure never to add an extra comma between the final adjective and the noun itself or to use commas with non-coordinate adjectives. Coordinate adjectives are adjectives with equal "co"-ordinate status in describing the noun; neither adjective is subordinate to the other.
You can decide if two adjectives in a row are coordinate by asking the following questions:. If you answer yes to these questions, then the adjectives are coordinate and should be separated by a comma. Here are some examples of coordinate and non-coordinate adjectives:. The 1 relentless , 2 powerful 3 summer sun beat down on them.
The 1 relentless , 2 powerful , 3 oppressive sun beat down on them. Both and are coordinate. Use a comma near the end of a sentence to separate contrasted coordinate elements or to indicate a distinct pause or shift. Use commas to set off phrases at the end of the sentence that refer to the beginning or middle of the sentence. Such phrases are free modifiers that can be placed anywhere in the sentence without causing confusion.
If the placement of the modifier causes confusion, then it is not "free" and must remain "bound" to the word it modifies. Use commas to set off all geographical names, items in dates except the month and day , addresses except the street number and name , and titles in names. When you use just the month and the year, no comma is necessary after the month or year: "The average temperatures for July are the highest on record for that month.
In , Marx wrote , "Workers of the world, unite! Commas in the wrong places can break a sentence into illogical segments or confuse readers with unnecessary and unexpected pauses. Don't put a comma between the two verbs or verb phrases in a compound predicate. Don't put a comma between the two nouns, noun phrases, or noun clauses in a compound subject or compound object. Don't put a comma after the main clause when a dependent subordinate clause follows it except for cases of extreme contrast.
General Writing Punctuation Commas. The game was over , but the crowd refused to leave. Yesterday was her brother's birthday , so she took him out to dinner. If you are ill , you ought to see a doctor.
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