1. COMMAS UWF Writing Lab Grammar Skills Series #1
UWF Writing Lab Grammar Skills Series #1
From Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon
PowerPoint Created Olivia Hawkins
Last updated Spring 2017

2. TO AVOID THE SHATNER COMMA, FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING COMMA RULES.

3. USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A LIST
Commas Separate Ideas
Serial commas – separate items in a list
The performing, literary, and visual arts
USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A LIST
Oxford Comma

4. Commas Separate Ideas USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A LIST
Serial commas – separate items in a list
The performing, literary, and visual arts
USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A LIST
Oxford Comma
Why don’t these lists have commas?
Cash or check or debit card
The Postman’s Creed: Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
NO COMMAS IF ALL ITEMS ARE JOINED BY A COORDINATING CONJUNCTION

5. Commas Separate Ideas Literary and visual arts
NO COMMAS IF LIST CONSISTS OF ONLY TWO ITEMS
Serial commas – separate items in a list
The performing, literary, and visual arts
USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A LIST
Oxford Comma
Why don’t these lists have commas?
Cash or check or debit card
The Postman’s Creed: Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
NO COMMAS IF ALL ITEMS ARE JOINED BY A COORDINATING CONJUNCTION

6. NO COMMA TO SEPARATE COMPOUND ELEMENTS WITHIN A SENTENCE
Commas and FANBOYS
Online and mail-order shopping can be convenient and timesaving with appropriate precautions, and they are safe as well.
Television advertising is expensive and sometimes very effective.
USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE TWO SENTENCES SEPARATED BY A COORDINATING CONJUNCTION.
NO COMMA TO SEPARATE COMPOUND ELEMENTS WITHIN A SENTENCE  

7. Commas and Adjectives Narrow winding treacherous roads.
Affordable health insurance
Can we interchange “narrow” and “treacherous” and keep the meaning?
Can we interchange “affordable” and “health” and keep the meaning?
Winding narrow treacherous roads.
Health affordable insurance
Yes! Therefore, we need commas to separate the adjectives:
No! Therefore, we do not need commas to separate the adjectives:
Narrow, winding, treacherous roads.
Affordable health insurance

8. Commas and Restrictive Information
Nonrestrictive = The sentence works without it. The element provides extra detail, but is not essential.
Restrictive = The sentence doesn’t work without it. The element is essential to the sentence.
If we take out the red words, does the sentence still get the point across?
Denver which is known as the Mile-High City is the capital of Colorado.
The city which is the capital of Colorado has an altitude of one mile.
Denver is the capital of Colorado.
The city has an altitude of one mile.
Yes! Therefore, the information is nonrestrictive, and we need commas:
No! “The city” is too vague. Therefore, the information is restrictive, and we do not need commas:
Denver, which is known as the Mile-High City, is the capital of Colorado.
The city which is the capital of Colorado has an altitude of one mile.

9. Commas and Dates USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A DATE.
Place a comma between the year and the rest of the sentence.
The theft occurred in July 1888.
No comma is needed if there are only two items in the date.
July 10, 1888, was the day of the theft.
MLA format uses military style.
It requires no commas.
10 July 1888
Place a comma between the day and the year.

10. USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE GEOGRAPHIC ITEMS FROM THE SENTENCE.
Commas and Locations
Lombard Street in San Francisco, California, is billed as the most crooked street in the world.
155 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, California , is an address in one of California’s ritziest neighborhoods, where apartments are $7,500 a month.
USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE GEOGRAPHIC ITEMS FROM THE SENTENCE.

11. Commas and Introductory Elements
For a college student, picking a major is no easy task.
Whether a student's dream is starting his or her own business, going into the medical field, or broadcasting to the world, the 10,380 students enrolled at the University of West Florida have many options.
Even though Bartheleme loves to sing, he never sings in front of others.
Most of the time, travellers worry about their
luggage.
Most of the
time travellers worry about their luggage.
USE A COMMA AFTER INTRODUCTORY ELEMENTS: WORDS, PHRASES, AND CLAUSES.

12. NO COMMA WHEN THE INTRODUCTORY ELEMENT IS AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE
Commas and Introductory Elements
Whenever you travel by car, buckle your seat belt.
Buckle your seat belt whenever you travel by car.
NO COMMA WHEN THE INTRODUCTORY ELEMENT IS AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE

13. Commas to Set Things Off
This is a bogus , isn’t it?
Her comments, however, spawned a number of blogs.
USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE INTERRUPTERS AND PARENTHETICAL WORDS AND PHRASES FROM THE REST OF THE SENTENCE.
USE COMMAS TO SET OFF TAG QUESTIONS

14. Commas and Contradictions
The word blog is a portmanteau, not an abbreviation or an acronym, for “web log.”
USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE CONTRASTING STATEMENTS FROM THE REST OF THE SENTENCE.

15. NEVER Put a Comma between Two Sentences . . .
Don’t ask , don’t tell.
USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE SHORT THREE- TO FOUR-WORD SENTENCES IN A SERIES.

16. Commas and Direct Address
Thank you, staff members, for your support.
Military members, we appreciate you for your service to our country.
Hello Ms. Hixon , ,
USE COMMAS TO SET OFF WORDS IN DIRECT ADDRESS

17. USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE A DIRECT QUOTATION FROM ITS EXPLANATORY TAG.
Commas and Dialogue
Barack Obama famously said, “We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
"The growth of the Internet, electronic communications, and electronic commerce has affected the U. S. Postal Service,” said the Postmaster General.
USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE A DIRECT QUOTATION FROM ITS EXPLANATORY TAG.

18. I leave you with some of my favorite comma jokes: