Commas
What is the issue?
Commas help the reader understand how words are connected and used in a sentence. When commas are misused, sentence parts can run into each other, making the sentence's meaning unclear.
Basic Examples
- Place a comma before and, but, for, nor, or, yet, or so when they connect independent clauses. (*note: commas only occur before the above conjunctions when the following clause could be a complete sentence by itself).
Ex. Perry and Della were perfect companions, yet their relationship was never romantic. - Place commas between items in a series.
Ex. Perry Mason was upright, sympathetic, and rotund. - Place a comma after an introductory element that doesn't flow smoothly with the rest of the sentence.
Ex. After the show Perry Mason was cancelled, the world slowly deteriorated. - Place commas around non-restrictive elements.
Ex. My friend Ralph, who is a great cook, lives in Des Moines. - Place a comma before a modifying element that ends or interrupts a sentence, if that element qualifies, contrasts, or
poses an exception.
Ex. Perry's sense of justice rules his life, a life worthy of imitation. - Place a comma before a tag question (if it ends a sentence) and also after it, if it interrupts a sentence. Place a comma after or before a direct address.
Ex. You killed Gilbert Tunkle, didn't you?
Ex. Paul, what did you find?
Advanced Examples
- Place commas within more/less constructions.
Ex. The more cases Hamilton Burger lost, the less we pitied him. - Place commas between coordinate adjectives (adjectives that can be reversed without a change in meaning).
Ex. Della Street has expressive, thick eyebrows. - Place commas to avoid misreadings.
Ex. Just before, Perry won the case. - Place commas around titles.
Ex. Dr. Witherspoon, M.D., ate here.
Ex. Henry Matisse, Jr., is a little known painter. - Place commas within dates and geographical locations.
Ex. On Thursday, September 21, 1978, I was born.
Ex. She came from Kalamazoo, ID.