Commas are quite complicated because they don't just do one thing.
Actually, commas have different jobs in the sentence. The rules may be a little bit different, depending on
the stylebook or the rules at your company or at a newspaper or at a publishing
company. But in general, these are a couple of guidelines that you can think
about when you are writing and I hope that they can help you to decide when you
should and should not use a comma.
Comma Rule 1: Introductory Expression
We use comma for a word or a phrase that comes before the subject and
the verb of a sentence.
For example:
"In 2014, I started
my own business."
So, here, “In 2014,” we have a comma after 2014 before the subject and
the verb of the sentence. So, this is like an introductory introduction here.
One more example:
"Last week, we
met our new clients."
So, here, “Last
week,” is some extra information, it's introducing something.
NOTE📝: In some cases, you may not need to use a comma after an introductory expression;
it depends on the stylebook that you're using.
Comma Rule 2: Adjective Clauses
Adjective clauses often begin with like “who,” “which,” or “that.” When
we use adjective clauses to introduce information that is non-essential to
understand the noun, we can offset that extra information with commas. So, in
this case, we'll use two commas here.
Let's take a look at an example.
“The movie ‘Inception', which was hugely popular in 2010, is a sci-fi
and an action movie.”
Okay, so, here, we are talking about the movie, “Inception,” that's my
noun here. I've got a
relative pronoun here, “which,” and then, “was hugely popular in 2010,” this is
extra information about the movie, “Inception.”
Then, we finish with, “is a sci-fi and action movie.” So, this extra
information, “which was hugely popular in 2010,” is set apart from the sentence
with commas.
If we remove this relative clause, the sentence is correct.
“The movie ‘Inception’ is a sci-fi and action movie.”
So, we can use relative clauses with extra
information and set them off with commas.
The use of a comma with an adjective clause
gives a hint to your reader that it's some extra information. So, please set
off your relative clauses, your non-essential relative clauses with commas.
Let's look at one more example.
“Her parents, who were greatly respected in the
community, both passed away last year.”
So, in this case, our relative pronoun is “who,” and extra information is, “who were greatly respected in the community.” So, we have
given some extra information about her parents and we have set that off with
commas. If I remove this adjective clause the sentence is still correct.
“Her parents both passed away last
year.”
Bright Tip💡
Sometimes, people will try to use a comma in one
complete sentence. They think it's a compound sentence, but it's not actually
compound. So, if you're confused, just slow down, take a look at your sentence
and ask yourself, “Are there two separate complete ideas in this sentence?” If
so and you're using a coordinating conjunction, you can use a comma there.
If there's only one idea, one complete idea in
your sentence, then you don't need to use a comma.
Comma Rule 3: Items in a Series
We use commas to separate items in a series
of grammatical equals. Grammatically
equals means that this series has a series of same nouns or maybe a series of
verbs or maybe a series of adjectives or prepositional phrases. You could even
have a longer part of a sentence that has a series like a series of gerund
phrases or a series of adverb or adjective clauses. So just be aware it's a
series of anything that is a grammatical equal.
So let’s look at a couple of sentences here.
"We have we searched under the desks behind the
shelves and in the trash can for the missing keys."
Now you would notice that we have a string of
prepositional phrases so our grammatical equal here is PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES.
We have three of them. The rule states that we're going to put commas to
separate the items in the series because we have three items in this series.
Now put the comma between each of the
prepositional phrases.
We have searched under the desks, behind the shelves, and in the trash can
for the missing keys.
So in this situation, because we have three items
we're going to put into comas.
For example:
We spent our time relaxing on the beach,
swimming in the sea, and drinking coffee in the seaside cafés.
In this case, the items on our list are whole
phrases; they're not just single words, but the principle is the same.
You can also use the listing comma - sometimes-
to separate adjectives before a noun.
Look at this sentence:
She has long, dark, shiny hair.
Here we are using listing commas to separate the adjectives. The listing
comma replaces the words 'and' or 'or'.
You can say, "She has long and dark and shiny hair." But it
doesn't sound good. So, in this case, we use listing commas between the
adjectives.
A Comma or Not a Comma?
Now there's always a big question about whether
or not to put a comma before the end of a series. In British English, we don't
usually use a comma. This is also called the Oxford comma.
In American English, a comma is often used
before 'and'. It's your choice which style you use. Both are correct.
Now here are some notes.
Comma Rule 4 Note 1:
If ALL the items are separated by “and” or “or” do
not use commas to separate them.
I would like to go to Islamabad or Hunza or Gilgit
for vacation.
Here we have three proper nouns and the common
rule is to use a comma to separate the items in the series. But if ALL the
items are separated by “and” or “or” DO NOT use commas to separate them. You’re
always going to have one “and” or one “or” but this note goes to a situation where
you have all the items separated by “and” or “or”.
Let’s look at another example.
We need two cucumbers and four tomatoes and some
onions.
So, in this situation, we have grammatical equals. We have three common
nouns instead of having a series of them where we would need a comma. They've
actually separated them with “and” between all three items because we have “and”
in both of those positions, we are NOT going to put a comma because all the
items are separated by the word “and” so we're not going to use the comma.
Comma Rule 4 Note 2:
When writing a sentence, containing a series of items, make sure the
sentence is parallel. In other words, make sure that the grammatical equals in
this series are in fact grammatical equals. That means that they are structured
in the same grammatical way.
So let's look at this first sentence.
"I love to eat, playing with my kitten, and a good conversation with a
friend."
This is an INCORRECT way to word
items in a series because items in the series are not grammatical equals. “Love
to eat” is an infinitive then we have “playing with my kitten” “playing” is a
gerund and then we have “and a good conversation with a friend” “conversation”
which is a noun. The items in the series are not parallel because we have an
infinitive, a gerund, and a noun.
In order to make this correct, we have a few options. Our first option
takes those same items we're going to try to keep the meaning as closely as we
can and we're going to structure them so that they all follow the same
grammatical structure. So we rewrite it in the following way.
Correct (all gerunds):
I love eating, playing with my kitten, and having a good conversation
with a friend.
Now the only thing we did was
adjusted each of the grammatical structures so that they were grammatical equals.
We've kept the original meaning of the
sentence as closely as possible. Another thing we could do would be to make
infinitives out of all of them.
Correct (all infinitives):
I love to eat, to play with my
kitten, and to have a good conversation with a friend.
In all three of these items, I have structured them in the infinitive
form. The other thing I want you to notice is that in both of these correct
sentences there is a comma before the end because in standard formal English
that comma is still acquired.
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