Punctuation COMMAS

A comma is used to mark a brief pause. For a longer pause – use a full stop. Use a comma: to separate two words OR Groups of words – this will make the meaning of a sentence clear. ~

EXAMPLE We ate chocolate, jelly and cake. If you leave out the comma: This makes it sound as though the jelly was made of chocolate. ~

LISTS When there is a list of words in a sentence, each word in the list is separated from the next by a comma. ~

Lists may be NOUNS, ADJECTIVES or VERBS. Example: Nouns  We will need hammers, nails and a saw. Adjectives  Mr Cherry was a warm, hospitable man. Verbs  She stopped, stared and ran. ~

LISTS continued The last word in the list is usually joined to the list by “and” instead of a comma. Example: I need to buy coffee, sugar and milk. There is NO comma before the first word in the list, or after the last. ~

TRY THESE Where would the comma go in these sentences? The monster was huge fat and spiky. Everyone threw spears stones swords and boiling oil at the creature. ~

LONG SENTENCES The comma comes before the joining word. EXAMPLE: We queued for the concert for four hours, but we didn’t manage to get tickets. The two parts of these sentences are equally important. ~

JOINING SIMPLE SENTENCES Two or more simple sentences joined together by words like: BUT, OR, NOR, SO, EITHER and NEITHER are separated by a comma before the joining word. Example: I knew it was wrong, but I had to jump in the puddle. ~

MORE COMPLICATED A sentence is sometimes made up of one main part (a main clause) with other, less important parts (subordinate clauses) joined to it by words like WHEN, BECAUSE and ALTHOUGH. These two are separated by a comma.~

EXAMPLE When he saw the pirate ship on the horizon, the captain gave the alarm. You write a sentence that has two things that go together but are separated by a comma. ~

Sentence linking words: you may sometimes use a comma: The joining words in long sentences are called conjunctions. Here are some more common conjunctions: After if before since Unless until though for While as BEWARE: some of these words are not always conjunctions.~

COMMAS WITH “AND” Commas are not generally used with “and”. In a list “and” tends to replace the comma, BUT sometimes you need to use a comma before “and” to make the meaning absolutely clear. ~

EXAMPLE – USING AND The best horses in the race were Pacemaker, Starlight, Mr Speedy, Windstorm, and Thunder and Lightning. Without this comma you might think there were four horses, or that the fourth horse was called Windstorm and Thunder. ~

Copy this into your jotters A comma is used to mark a brief pause. When there is a list of words in a sentence, each word in the list is separated from the next by a comma. Two or more simple sentences joined together by words like: BUT, OR, NOR, SO, EITHER and NEITHER are separated by a comma before the joining word.

GOOD LUCK