ENGLISH COMMA RULES - CRAZY? Part:2

In part 1, I wrote about comma rule no: 1,2,3, and 4. Now let's take a look at some more rules!  
  
Comma Rule 5: Two Adjectives with “AND” Test

Our grammar rules say to use a comma to separate two are more adjectives preceding a noun IF it sounds very natural to put “and” between the two adjectives. If the “and” sounds awkward, DON’T use it.   

Let’s look at this for sentence.

"That is a rough narrow dangerous road."

 Now I'm going to diagram the whole sentence.

I have adjectives preceding a noun. So in order to decide if I'm going to put a comma, I’m going to add “and” just between two of them. Could I say that is a rough AND narrow road? I could. It does sound very natural to put “and” between those two adjectives, and because it does, I’m going to put a comma here. 

"That is a rough, narrow road."

Now I have another set of adjectives there. So I’m going to do the “and test” there as well. 

"That is a narrow and dangerous road."

Putting the “and” between those two adjectives still sounds very natural. So I’m going to go ahead and I am putting my comma there. 

"That is a narrow, and dangerous road."

Notice that the “and test” worked even with three adjectives in a row. So I can have two adjectives right there simply because between both of those sets the “and test” sounded very natural.

"That is a rough, narrow, dangerous road."

 Let’s look at the second sentence.

"I saw a little old woman."

 Now I have the noun (woman). I have my two adjectives  (little, old).  Notice I'm not including the article in this rule. So now I'm going to see if the “and” test works. 

I saw a little AND old woman.

Now when we read that sentence, it sounds very awkward. It doesn't sound natural for that reason I am NOT going to put a comma. 

Let's look at the final one.

"The noisy carefree fans cheered when they saw the bright blue uniforms of the band."

You guys could easily diagram the sentence. It has an independent clause with an adverbial subordinate clause next.  Now I'm just going to pop in and I have a noun (fans) here with a couple of adjectives (noisy carefree). I also have noun uniforms with bright and blue adjectives. So I'm going to take each set, and I'm going to apply the “and” test. Remember, if it sounds very natural to put “and” in the middle, I am going to include a comma. 

So let's take that first set.

The noisy AND carefree fans cheered.

That sounds very natural. So for that reason, I'm going to go in and I'm going to put a comma here.

The noisy, carefree fans cheered.

Now let's go down and let's look at the other one.

When they saw the bright blue uniforms of the band.

The bright AND blue uniform sounds unnatural. It doesn't sound like it works so I am NOT going to put a comma between those two adjectives only between that first set.  

Comma Rule 6: Compound Sentences and Coordinating Conjunction 

This coma rule uses compound sentences. Use the comma before the conjunction when it joins independent clauses. The word conjunction is technically called coordinating conjunction and a lot of writers struggle with that. So let's just clarify what a coordinating conjunction is for compound sentences. It's really easy to remember them. They are called FANBOYS.

F---  For (not for as a preposition but for is a conjunction)

A---  And

N---  Nor

B---  But

O---  Or

Y---  Yet

S---   So 

Our acronym FANBOYS will let us remember that we’re going to USE a comma before the CONJUNCTION or before the FANBOYS only when it joins independent clauses.  

Let’s look at this first sentence.

"Zara drove to the park and Qistina walked to the beach."

So you can see conjunction “and” here.  Now “and” can join in all kinds of stuff. It can join nouns and verbs and other things. Now we have to see is if it's actually joining an independent clause.  

Zara drove to the park.   

Yes, we do have an independent clause.

Now we are going to look at the next one.

 Qistina walked to the beach.

Well, that's an independent clause, so now we are going to follow our rule of putting a comma before the conjunction/ fanboys. 

"Zara drove to the park, and Qistina walked to the beach."

Take the next example.

"Aahil changed the oil on the old Chevy and checked the plugs on the Ford."

So we have fanboy “and” here.  Now we are going to do the independent clause check.  

"Aahil changed the oil on the Chevy." This is an independent clause. Now we are going to see the second part “checked the plugs on the Ford”. Well, this is not an independent clause. It has no subject so because it doesn't have a subject. We do not have an independent clause, therefore, we're not going to have a comma.

Aahil changed the oil on the old Chevy, and checked the plugs on the Ford.❌

Aahil changed the oil on the old Chevy and checked the plugs on the Ford. ✅ 

Let's do a little bit more practice.

"Pandas are black and white so they are easy to spot."

We've got a fanboy (so) here. We’ve two independent clauses (Pandas are black and white.) and (They are easy to spot.).  So we're going to put our comma before the conjunction.

"Pandas are black and white, so they are easy to spot."

The next one.

"Pandas are black and white so easy to spot."

The first part is an independent clause, but the second part is not an independent clause, so we are NOT going to put a comma before the conjunction “so”.

Let's look at our next sentence.

"I went to the supermarket for I had to buy milk and cereal."

Now to us “for” is a red light word. It can be a preposition. So this comma test is really good because if that's acting a preposition it's going to show up and I'm not going to accidentally put my comma there. Let's see if this works. “I went to the supermarket” is an independent clause. “I had to buy milk and cereal” that's also an independent clause, so I'm going to put my comma before the conjunction.

Let’s move to the next one.

"I went to the supermarket for milk and cereal."

“I went to the supermarket.” is an independent clause and “for” is a prepositional phrase. So in this situation, I would not put a comma there because “for” in not a conjunction.

Comma Rule 6: Exception

Don’t use the comma if you...

1) are using the conjunction “and”

and

2) if either one of the independent clauses contains four words or fewer.

Let's look at this first sentence, it will make more sense.

Zara drove to the park and ( "and" is our FANBOY here) Qistina walked to the beach.

Now there is a common rule to use the comma before the conjunction when it joins independent clauses. So in a normal situation, we would say that we should put a comma before the conjunction. But here we have a new common rule that says that if either one of the independent clauses contains four words or fewer, you don't use a comma.  So I am going to count some words here. My first independent clause has four words. So it's four words or fewer because it's four words or fewer it follows the exception and I am NOT going to put a comma before “and”. 

Let's look at the next one.

Zara drove to the park but Qistina did not.

 So here we have conjunction (but) with two independent clauses. My word check says that both sides contain fewer than four words so we should not put a comma before the conjunction.  But the other part of the rule states that don’t use a comma if you have only conjunction “and”.  Here we have the conjunction “but” so we have to put a comma before the conjunction because it is required.  

Comma Rule 7: Introductory words, Phrases or Clauses

Words:

"Purring the kitten curled up in my lap."

“Purring” is an introductory word so we are going to put a comma here. 

 Purring, the kitten curled up in my lap.

"Suddenly the boy sneezed."

“Suddenly” is an introductory word, so we are going to put a comma after it.

 "Suddenly, the boy sneezed."

Phrases:

Put the comma after the first prep phrase because most of the time it makes things clear. 

Take a look at these examples.  

During the winter snow falls constantly.

Now “during the winter” is a single prepositional phrase so we will put a comma after it to make meanings clear.

During the winter, snow falls constantly.

Move to the next one. 

During the winter the building is cold.

Now “during the winter” is a single prepositional phrase but this one really doesn't need a comma because the meaning is clear without it. However, it is your choice to use it or not.

Move to the final one.

During the final three minutes of the game the fans began to cheer wildly.

Now here we have double prep phrase “During the final three minutes of the game” and “fans began to cheer wildly” and we are going to put a comma between them.  

During the final three minutes of the game, the fans began to cheer wildly.

Clauses:

A clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb.

Although I like country music I did not want to hear the entire CD.

In this case, you want to put a comma after dependent clauses that start the sentence.

Although I like country music, I did not want to hear the entire CD.

Comma Rule 9: Non-essential Information

Use a comma to set off non-essential information in the sentence. 

She watched puzzled as the girl in the yellow car drove away.

So in this sentence, “puzzled” is an extra word that you do not need in this sentence. So we are going to put a comma before and after the non-essential information. 

She watched, puzzled, as the girl in the yellow car drove away.

To use commas, the sentence must make sense and be grammatically complete without the extra information.

In these cases, you can see that if we remove the information in red: "I have no idea, to be honest, what you want for your birthday. - that's still a complete sentence and it makes sense. 

Let’s look at more examples.

A customer, complaining loudly, stepped up to the counter.

My best friend, Fatima, just got married.

One of my colleagues, who used to be a semi-professional footballer, invited me to play in their five-a-side team this weekend.