Commas
Essential Information
Commas guide your reader through the sentences, telling him/her how the sentence
is organized and when to pause.
(The following is a list of basic comma rules. For a more complete explanation,
please consult any English handbook. We recommend A Pocket Style Manual,
Third Edition, by Diana Hacker or The Everyday Writer:A Brief Reference, by
Andrea Lundsford.)
What’s the issue?
Commas help the reader understand how words are connected and used in a sentence. When
commas are misused, sentence parts can run into each other, making the sentence’s meaning
unclear.
Basic Comma Rules and Examples
1. Place a comma before and, but, for, nor, or, yet, or so when they connect independent clauses.
(*note: commas only occur before the above conjunctions when the following clause could be a
complete sentence by itself).
Ex. Perry and Della were perfect companions, yet their relationship was never
romantic.
2. Place commas between items in a series.
Ex. Perry Mason was upright, sympathetic, and rotund.
3. Place a comma after an introductory element that doesn’t flow smoothly with the rest of the
sentence.
Ex. After the show Perry Mason was cancelled, the world slowly deteriorated.
4. Place commas around non-restrictive elements.
Ex. My friend Ralph, who is a great cook, lives in Des Moines.
5. Place a comma before a modifying element that ends or interrupts a sentence, if that element
qualifies, contrasts, or
poses an exception.
Ex. Perry’s sense of justice rules his life, a life worthy of imitation.
6. Place a comma before a tag question (if it ends a sentence) and also after it, if it interrupts a
sentence. Place a comma
after or before a direct address.
Ex. You killed Gilbert Tunkle, didn’t you?
Ex. Paul, what did you find?
More Comma Rules and Examples
7. Place commas within more/less constructions.
Ex. The more cases Hamilton Burger lost, the less we pitied him.
8. Place commas between coordinate adjectives (adjectives that can be reversed without a
change in meaning).
Ex. Della Street has expressive, thick eyebrows.
9. Place commas to avoid misreadings.
Ex. Just before, Perry won the case.
10. Place commas around titles.
Ex. Dr. Witherspoon, M.D., ate here.
Ex. Henry Matisse, Jr., is a little known painter.
11. Place commas within dates and geographical locations.
Ex. On Thursday, September 21, 1978, I was born.
Ex. She came from Kalamazoo, ID.
Let’s Practice
(Insert commas where appropriate in the paragraph below)
Although women's college basketball in Connecticut is a marvelously entertaining and
increasingly popular sport it is not hard to remember when it was not so popular. Only a
few years ago my friends and I could decide on a Sunday afternoon to go to a women's
basketball game at the University of Connecticut and believe it or not we could get seats
for free near center court. Of course that was before names such as Rebecca Lobo Jennifer
Rizzotti Kara Wolters and Carla Berube became household words. Lobo's book HomeCourt Advantage which she wrote with her mother was a best-seller for a brief time in
Connecticut. If more than a couple of hundred fans showed up for a game it was
considered a big turnout and games were played in practically silent gyms. Nowadays it is
almost impossible to buy tickets to a women's game and you can't get seats even in the
Civic Center unless you know someone.
Answers:
Although women's college basketball in Connecticut is a marvelously entertaining and increasingly popular sport, it
is not hard to remember when it was not so popular. Only a few years ago, my friends and I could decide on a
Sunday afternoon to go to a women's basketball game at the University of Connecticut, and believe it or not, we
could get seats for free near center court. Of course, that was before names such as Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti,
Kara Wolters, and Carla Berube became household words. Lobo's book, Home-Court Advantage, which she wrote
with her mother, was a best-seller for a brief time in Connecticut. If more than a couple of hundred fans showed up
for a game, it was considered a big turnout, and games were played in practically silent gyms. Nowadays, it is
almost impossible to buy tickets to a women's game, and you can't get seats, even in the Civic Center, unless you
know someone.