LET’S TALK GRAMMAR:
FROM THE COMMA SUTRA:
COMMAS IN THE REAL WORLD
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Written by Mamie Webb Hixon
UWF Writing Lab Director
PowerPoint Created by Lindsey Manning
Writing Lab Graduate Assistant
Are You a Comma-kazi*?
--a destroyer of sentence
meaning?
• Let’s eat Grandma! -----> Let’s eat, Grandma!
• While we were eating a rattlesnake approached our
campsite. ---> ?
• If you cook Ingrid will wash the dishes.--> ?
*A kamikazi is defined by Dictionary.com as the following:
“3. a person or thing that behaves in a wildly reckless or destructive manner.”
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“THE OXFORD COMMA”


Stephen Colbert (6/3/10) quoting Strunk and
White in defense of the "Oxford comma.”
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-reportvideos/310042/june-03-2010/vampire-weekend
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USING COMMAS PURPOSEFULLY
Deanine the intern is enrolled in a business class.
Deanine, the intern is enrolled in a business class.
Deanine, the intern, is enrolled in a business class.
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,
,
The performing literary and visual arts
,
Voice mail call waiting
, caller ID, and much more
,
,
Fast service free shipping big savings
,
,
three televised presidential debates in 1984 1988 and 1992
,
,
Congress the White House and national politics.
U.S. News & World Report
and the Boston Globe.
, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
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USE COMMAS TO
SEPARATE ITEMS IN A
SERIES.
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Links, pictures and quotes
UWF students can choose from undergraduate
degrees in 50 different areas, master's degrees in 24
different areas, two specialist degrees and a
doctorate in education.
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THE OPTIONAL COMMA
PRECEDING AND STILL
APPLIES.
8
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.
9
NO COMMAS IF ALL ITEMS ARE
JOINED BY A COORDINATING
CONJUNCTION
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Online and mail-order shopping can be convenient and timesaving
with appropriate precautions, and they are safe as well.
No one writes letters anymore, or so it seems.
People are turning to e-mail and the Internet to pay bills and keep in
touch, so no one writes letters anymore.
Parents once automatically gave their children the father's surname,
but some no longer do.
Instead, they bestow the mother's name, for they believe that the
mother's importance should be recognized.
Many women are concerned about breast cancer, and many men face
a similar health worry with prostate cancer.
Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.
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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE TWO
SENTENCES SEPARATED BY A
COORDINATING CONJUNCTION.
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Television advertising is expensive and sometimes
very effective.
The recently built children’s amusement park has
been called “a boon to the community” by its
supporters and “an eyesore” by its harshest
critics.
Losing weight causes fat cells to shrink and become
less metabolically active.
Are you the result of what has happened to you or
what you’ve made happen?
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To be or not to be, that is the question.
NO COMMA TO SEPARATE
COMPOUND ELEMENTS
WITHIN A SENTENCE
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,
,
I came I saw I nothinged.
Don’t ask
, don’t tell.
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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE
SHORT THREE- TO FOUR-WORD
SENTENCES IN A SERIES.
16
T. Boone Pickens explains his plan for alternative,
domestic energy in a 60-second TV commercial.
A three-hour, in-depth CSPAN interview
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USE COMMAS TO
SEPARATE A SERIES OF
INTERCHANGEABLE
ADJECTIVES.
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The incredible edible egg
Innovative new technology
Free digital television
Affordable health insurance
A United States driver’s license
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NO COMMAS TO SEPARATE
ADJECTIVES THAT ARE NOT
INTERCHANGEABLE
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,
,
Thank you staff members for your support.
,
This is a bogus email isn’t it?
,
Military members we appreciate you for your
service to our country.
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USE COMMAS TO SET OFF
WORDS IN DIRECT ADDRESS
AND TAG QUESTIONS.
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December 7, 1941, is a date which will live in
infamy.
By law, households will need to
take steps to receive a digital
television signal by February
17, 2009, when all fullpower stations must
begin broadcasting only in
digital.
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USE COMMAS AFTER
ITEMS IN A DATE.
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People can request a converter box between
January 2011 and March 2012.
25
NO COMMAS IF DATE
CONSISTS OF ONLY TWO
ITEMS
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Lombard Street in San Francisco, California, is
billed as the most crooked street in the world.
155 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, California
90210, is an address in one of California’s ritziest
neighborhoods, where apartments are $7,500 a
month.
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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE
GEOGRAPHIC ITEMS FROM
THE SENTENCE.
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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.
Yes, portmanteaus for celebrities include Desilu,
Billary, Bennifer, Brangelina, and Nickariah.
If it weren’t for the war, terrorism, and the
election, 2004 might well be remembered as the
Year of the Search.
Whenever you travel by car, buckle your seat belt.
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USE A COMMA AFTER
INTRODUCTORY
ELEMENTS: WORDS,
PHRASES, AND CLAUSES.
30
Buckle your seat belt whenever you travel by car.
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NO COMMA WHEN THE
INTRODUCTORY ELEMENT IS AT
THE END OF THE SENTENCE
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Grey’s Anatomy, a drama centered on the personal
and professional lives of five surgical interns and
their supervisors, airs on the ABC network.
Shonda Rhimes, its creator, lives in Los Angeles.
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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE A
NONRESTRICTIVE APPOSITIVE
FROM THE WORD IT RENAMES.
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Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes accepted
the award for Outstanding Drama Series.
The TV series Grey’s Anatomy is centered on the
personal and professional lives of five surgical
interns and their supervisors.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book
The Scarlet Letter is an
American classic.
35
NO COMMAS TO SEPARATE
RESTRICTIVE INFORMATION
FROM THE WORD IT RENAMES
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Denver, which is known as the Mile-High City, is
the capital of Colorado.
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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE
NONRESTRICTIVE “WHICH”CLAUSES.
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The city which is the capital of Colorado has an
altitude of one mile.
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NO COMMA TO SEPARATE
RESTRICTIVE “WHICH”CLAUSES
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The speaker’s comments, however, had the
unintended effect of catapulting the politically
incorrect statement into mainstream speech.
Her comments, of course, spawned a number of
blogs.
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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE
INTERRUPTERS AND PARENTHETICAL
WORDS AND PHRASES FROM THE REST
OF THE SENTENCE.
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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.
43
USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE
A DIRECT QUOTATION FROM
ITS EXPLANATORY TAG.
44
The word blog is a portmanteau, not an
abbreviation or an acronym, for “web log.”
The idea was met with acceptance, not anger.
Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it,
so autograph your work with excellence, not
mediocrity.
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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE
CONTRASTING STATEMENTS
FROM THE REST OF THE
SENTENCE.
46
The King dynasty includes Martin Luther King
Jr., and Martin Luther King III.
,
MLK earned a doctorate degree, so his name can be
,
written Martin Luther King Ph.D.
47
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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE AN
ACADEMIC OR BIRTH RANK TITLE SUCH
AS “JR.” OR “SR.” FROM A NAME, BUT NO
COMMA IS USED BETWEEN A NAME AND
A ROMAN NUMERAL BIRTH RANK.
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