The SIX Basic Comma Rules Thanks to a great book: The LEAST You Should Know about English

Comma Rule #1 The Serial…Comma, not Killer… The Serial…Comma, not Killer… Place a comma between items in a series as in the example below. I have my laptop, my pens, my pencils, and my MP3 Player in my backpack.

Comma Rule #2 The compound sentence comma... Place a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet. The compound sentence comma... Place a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet. For Example: The best place to take a vacation is Chicago, but the best place to take a honeymoon is Hawaii.

Comma Rule #3 The coordinating adjectives comma… The coordinating adjectives comma… Always place a comma between coordinate adjectives. First, we try placing the word and between the two adjectives. Second, we reverse them. If, in both instances, the resulting phrase still sounds appropriate, we are most likely dealing with coordinate adjectives and should use a comma between them.

Examples: Allen owns several blue wool sweaters. In order to get home, we must travel over several narrow, winding, treacherous roads.

Comma Rule #4 Using commas with appositives… Using commas with appositives… Always place a comma around phrases that rename a noun. Example: Our pediatrician, André Wilson, was born in California. Do not use a comma if the information is necessary to identify the noun. Example: The girl who received a scholarship is my sister.

Comma Rule #5 The Interrupting Word/Phrase Comma… The Interrupting Word/Phrase Comma… Always place a comma before and after any word or phrase that can be removed from the sentence and still make sense. For Example: I ran down the street, though I didn’t have to, and fell down and hurt my knee. She likes ice cream, however, not with her cake.

Comma Rule #5 Interrupters can be at the end of a sentence… Interrupters can be at the end of a sentence… Always place a comma before any word or phrase that is just tagged on at the end of the sentence. See below. Is that you in the corner, John? OR I hadn’t seen John in years, though that didn’t make much difference in our friendship.

Comma Rule #6 The Catch-all Comma…use it… The Catch-all Comma…use it… to separate numbers more than four digits long (1,000,000), to separate city from state, (Paris, Texas), to separate day & year (August 15, 1980), before and after titles (James Smith, M.D., is no longer working here.), or to separate quoted material. (Mrs. Groll said, “You are a comma rule master!”)

Brought to you by Tim McGinn & The NWACC Writing Center