Comma tips
1. Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the main clause that follows.
Main clauses will often have single words, phrases, or other clauses that introduce them. Such as prepositional phrases, participle phrases, infinitive phrases, appositives, adverbs, subordinate clauses, and speaker tags.
Slurping up the last few drops of a McDonald’s chocolate shake, Beverly was struck by lighting and toasted as a crisp as a world-famous fry. [Introductory participle phrase]
To avoid being eaten by a Great White shark, Roy rubs raw garlic on his body before entering the surf. [Introductory infinitive phrase]
The best students in Dr. Wright’s biology class, Lakesha happily dissects every frog and pig fetus. [Introductory appositive]
2. Use commas to set off an interrupter from sentence that it divides.
Sentences will often have single words, phrases, or other clauses that interrupt them.
These Interrupters, grammatical units that disrupt the flow of the sentences, require commas both in front and behind. Prepositional phrases, infinitive phrases, appositives, nouns of direct address, some adverbs, subordinate clauses, nonessential clauses, and speaker tags can function as interrupters in a sentence.
My dog, on the other hand,hides under the bed as soon as he hears company knocking at the door. [Interrupting prepositional phrase]
My ’78 Ford Pinto, chocking and wheezing like a cat with a hairball, climbed the steep hill. [Interrupting participle phrase]
Your girlfriend, to be perfectly honest, cares about you very little. [Interrupting infinitive phrase]
3. Use a comma to separate a concluding element from the main clause that precedes it.
Single words, phrases, or other clauses can follow a main clause.
Most concluding elements require a comma to connect them to the end of a main clause. Appositives, nouns of direct address, some adverbs, nonessential clauses, and speaker tags follow this rule.
Jason did forget to buy more ketchup, however. [Concluding adverb]
On my seventh birthday, my family and I spent the day at Busch Gardens, where I sawmy first elephant. [Concluding nonessential clause]
“Your sister needs to dump her loser boyfriend,” my mother asserted. [Concluding speaker tag]
4. Know when to use a comma with and.
Only three patterns in writing require and.
Pattern 1—joining two complete sentences
First, you can use and to connect two complete sentences. In this pattern, you should always use a comma.
My dog Floyd sleeps on the bed and my cat Buster naps in the bathtub.
A stack of dirty dishes fills the kitchen sink, and a pile of damp towels litters the bathroom floor.
Pattern 1 works with all of the coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so.
Pattern 2—joining any two grammatical units except complete sentences
You can also use and to connect any two items. These items can be any grammatical unit except complete sentences. When you have only two items, you do not need a comma with and.
My dog Floyd has too many fleas and too much hair.
Buster, my cat, enjoys knocking glasses off the kitchen counter and dragging toilet paper streams through the house.
Pattern 2 also works with but, nor, or and yet.
Pattern 3—joining three or more items in a series
When you have three or more items in a series, you should use a comma with the and that connects the last item.
My computer needs more RAM, a faster Pentium processor, and a printer.
George has bad breath, no money, and an annoying mother, but Sherry Lynn still wants to date him.
Pattern 3 also works with but, nor, or and yet.
5. When necessary, use commas for clauses that begin with where, wherever, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and whosever.
Clauses that begin with relative pronouns and relative adverbs above have two classifications.
The first classification is essential. An essential clause gives information that defines or clarifies the very general word coming before it. Esserntial clauses require no punctuation.
The student who saw a space ship land in the parking lot ran to his class.
The student whom Dr. Skinner counsels ran to his class
Mrs. Mauzy returned the quiz to the student who slept in class everyday.
The second classification of these clauses is nonessential. A nonessential clause gives information or clarifies an already specific word. Nonessential clauses, because they interrupt the flow of the sentence or cause a strong break at the end, require separation with commas.
Robert, who saw a space ship land in the parking lot, ran to his class.
Robert, whom Dr. Skinner counsels, ran to his class
Mrs. Mauzy returned the quiz to Kristy, whomeveryone admires.
6. Use commas correctly with a series of adjectives.
Whenever you use more than one adjective to describe something, you must decide whether or not you need commas to separate the adjectives.
Coordinate adjectives require commas. Noncoordinate adjectives, however, need no punctuation.
Coordinate adjectives can pass two tests:
Test 1--When you reverse the order of coordinate adjectives, the sentence still makes sense.
Read this example:
The hungry, slimy, green Martian opened the classroom door, grabbed Claudette, and took her to lunch at Burger King.
The three adjectives-hungry, slimy, and green- can alternate their positions without hurting the meaning of the sentence:
The slimy, hungry, green Martian opened the classroom door...
The hungry, green,slimyMartian opened the classroom door...
The green, slimy,hungry Martian opened the classroom door...
Because these adjectives can be interchanged, they are coordinate and must have commas between them.
Test 2- When you insert and between coordinate adjectives, the sentence still makes sense.
Read this example:
While writing his final exam, a pale, sweating, panicky student stared at his sentence, trying to decide if a comma was necessary between two adjectives.
Notice that you can insert and between the three adjectives and the sentence still makes sense [although there is some unnecessary repetition].
While writing his final exam, a pale and sweating and panicky student stared at his sentence...
Noncoordinate adjectives can pass neither of the tests above. Whenever you discover that you have noncoordinate adjectives in a sentence, use on punctuation between them.
Read this sentnece:
Five flashy sports cars passed poor Jared, who rattled down the interstate in his '78 Chevette.
Notice that if you move the location of the adjectives, you create illogic:
Sports flashy five cars passed poor Jared.
Flashy sports five cars passed poor Jared.
Five sports flashy cars passed poor Jared.
In addition, if you insert and between the adjectives, the sentence loses its meaning:
Five and flashy and sports cars passed poor Jared.
When you encounter noncoordinate adjectives, those that fail the two tests detailed above, do not use commas between them.
7. Know the difference between so and so that when you are punctuating with commas.
So, a coordinating conjunction, will join two complete sentences. The pattern looks like this:
Katherine recently adopted a Great Dane puppy, so she spends considerable time wiping up puddles of dog urine with a sponge.
Mike agreed to help Helen move to her new apartment, so he spent Saturday lifting heavy furniture and struggling with unwieldy boxes.
Johnny drives a '78 Chevy Chevette with no air conditioning, so he must use the strongest antiperspirant on the market.
So That, on the other hand, is a subordinate conjunction that introduces a subordinate clause. The pattern looks like this:
The new puppy whines pathetically so that Katherine will let it sleep on the bed.
Mike soaked in a hot bath so that his aching back would relax.
During the summer, Johnny drives with a big cup of ice so that he doesn't overheat and pass out in the hot car.
So thatcan confuse writers because the that is optional. When the that is missing, don't mistake so that for so, thus adding incorrect punctuation.
Angie peeled away the crispy chicken skin so [or so that] she could later eat a brownie without worrying about the calories.
Before beginning his daydream, Frank opened his literature book so [or so that] he appeared to be paying attention to the discussion.
Unconcerned about small children or kittens, Carlotta recklessly sped through the residential neighborhood so [or so that] she would be home in time to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, her favorite TV show.
Comma Exercise 1 Name______
Directions: choose the option that will fix the comma error and list the tip(s) that support your decision.
1. During lunch, at the Valencia cafeteria, Mildred noticed the dirty tables, the overworked cashiers, and the exorbitant price for watery Pepsi.
A.Should you remove the comma after lunch?
B. or should you remove the comma after cashiers?
2. Melissa couldn’t study for her comma quiz, because she was joy riding on the enterprise with Mr.Spock, who was being chased by the US Air Force.
A. should you remove the comma after quiz?
B. or should you remove the comma after Mr.Spock?
3. The slimy smelly lettuce on my Taco Loco burrito made me ask the manager to return my thirty-nine cents.
A. should you remove the comma after slimy?
B. or should you add a comma after burrito?
4. Sitting in the rotunda of Building 5, Marcus chatted pleasantly with a pretty student from his chemistry class, but then he had to leave suddenly, because he noticed that he had only thirty seconds to get to Ms.Simmon’s English class on time.
A. Should you remove the comma after Building 5?
B. Or should you remove the comma after suddenly?
5. To solve all of the algebra problems, Brian drank seventeen cups of Denny’s coffee which then kept him awake for seventy-two hours.
A. should you remove the comma after problems?
B. or should you remove the comma after coffee?
6.”Don’t eat the pizza,” warned Lisa. “It’s over two months old”, She then explained.
A. should the comma after pizzafollowthe quotation marks?
B. Or should the comma after old precede the quotation marks?
7. Fifteen uncooked popcorn kernels, and a few grains of salt littered the front of Robert’s shirt as he slouched in the theater seat.
A. Should you add a comma after fifteen?
B. Or should you remove the comma after kernels?
8. Swinging at the fast ball, Bobbie heard, the satisfying crack of the home run that he had just hit.
A. should you remove the comma after ball?
B. Or should you remove the comma after heard?
9. Karen wasn’t sure if she needed a comma or not so she drew in a smudge that could pass for either a comma or a stray pen mark.
A. should you add a comma after not?
B. or should you use a comma after comma?
10. Maricarmen bought a new dictionary, so that she could proofread for spelling errors on her next in-class essay.
A. should you remove the comma after dictionary?
B. or should you add a comma after errors?
11. last weekened, Brenda had time to wash her clothes. the dishes, however were piled all over the kitchen counter and in the sink.
A. should you add a comma after however?
B or should you add a comma after counter?
12.” don’t give me that look Marlin,” warned Mrs.Clemmons, who held his pay check in her hand.
A. should you add a comma after look?
B. or should you remove the comma after Mrs. Clemmons?
13. Winning the lottery, Fred does believe, would create more headaches than the money is worth but he still buys a ticket every week.
A. should you remove the comma after lottery?
B. or should you add a comma after worth?
14. Thumbing through the s section of the dictionary, Harold tried to find, the correct spelling of psychology, but the word eluded him despite his careful searching.
A. should you remove the comma after find?
B. or should you remove the comma after psychology?
15. My dog Oreo, a “barkless” basenji can scream like a human child if we don’t feed her pizza crust quickly enough.
A. should you add a comma after basenji?
B. or should you add a comma after child?
Comma Exercise 2
Directions: Read the sentences below and insert commas where necessary.
1. Chad hopes to play professional football in the future so he regularly works out at the gym where he lifts weights, runs laps, drinks vitamin-enriched smoothies and ogles pretty girls as he gets strong and fast for tryouts.
2. "Quickly Annabelle put your notes away" warned Ms. Simmons as she passed out the quiz. Annabelle did as she was asked for all the comma rules were also written on her hands.
3. On the way to her English class Drew saw Marc the most handsome man in her math class so she risked missing the quiz to chat with him outside of the cafeteria.
4. Whenever Maria needs to study she sits in the garage. She cannot study in the house because her children watch television with the volume on high. In addition the phone rings constantly with new juicy gossip from her sisters.
5. "Good golly, Miss Molly" exclaimed Professor Bekas who had just finished grading Samilia's comma quiz. With extra credit points that Samillia had earned in class she scored a 117.
6. Sitting on seats like human passengers seven fat sheep accompanied a farmer to market. Joe sitting across the isle wished that he had biked to downtown Manila instead of riding on the overcrowded smelly bus.
7. To get an A on his biology quiz Francisco drew and labeled frog parts on his wrist so that he could surreptitiously check his answers when Dr. Keiper wasn't looking.
8. Because Sarah has her first class in Portable Q she must run to Ms. Simmons' 10 a.m. class ignoring all of her friends who try to greet her on the way.
9.My friend Harry who lives alone only goes food shopping if a hurricane is about to hit the area or if he's down to using Joy dish soap as shampoo.
10. Whenever Maria is housecleaning she tunes the radio to her favorite salsa station sings and dances while she dusts and vacuums.
11. Lavrne knows that she is in big trouble because she has turned neither of her essays for Mr. Beane who has no patients for late work excuses or apologies.
12. To get on Ms. Simmons' good side Jason brought his teacher her favorite dish delicious chocolate-broccoli muffins with green cream cheese frosting.
13. On a dare Michael spent the night in the Finklestein's abandoned house which has inspired stories of ghosts who will suck out your eyes and eat them like grapes.
14. Oreo my black and white basenji puppy loves to chase the cat around the house and lick dry the legs of anyone stepping out of the shower.
15. Because Gloria is such a picky housekeeper she inspects any dishwashing that her roommate Delores does checking, for example that all the lipstick has been removed from the rims of cups and glasses.
16. Ignoring his burning tongue and fingers Frankie sipped the steaming sugar-loaded coffee as he tried to warm up after four hours of snow skiing in the subzero weather.
17. Dustin loves Internet auctions so he spends hours on eBay where he bids on comic books Beanie Babies and unicorn figurines to add to his collections.
18. Lying on the coffee table were Casey's school books the ones he needed to consult to complete his homework. Unfortunately the TV remote also lay beside them so Casey spent the evening channel surfing instead of preparing for the next day's classes.
19. Nancy discarded one dress after another as she prepared for her first date with Ray. Across town Ray threw on a wrinkled dirty T-shirt and old jeans completely unconcerned about the impression he would make.
20. Baking in the hot sun Rachel swatted biting mosquitoes wiped sweat form her face and rubbed her sore arms as she cleared the overgrown thorny bushes that followed the fence line.