Goals For Today
• Characterize the comma and its role in sentences
• View and discuss five reliable rules for comma placement
• If there is time, we’ll practice identifying where and why to use commas in an exercise

The Comma: The Traffic Cop
The comma regulates the flow of phrases and clauses in a sentence.

1) After sentence introductions:
Intro, SV.
SV; TE, SV.

2) Between clauses:
SV, {FANBOYS} SV.
SV, DC.
SV, {FANBOYS} SV, DC.

3) To insert elements into clauses:
S, phrase, V.
S, clause, V.

4) To separate items in a list: a
, b
, and c adj
, adj noun

5) Tags:
I said, “I quote.”
“Frankly, my dear,” he said, “I quote, too.”

Let’s Examine the 5 in Detail

subject verb.

The subject is the person or thing that does the action.
The verb = action.

Independent Clause
A clause has a subject and verb .
An independent clause has enough information about the subject and verb that it can stand on its own and not leave a reader confused.

Introductory Word Group
Anything before the subject of the first independent clause (IC) is the introductory word group.

Sentence Introduction Examples
Believing she had plenty of time, the student put off writing her paper until the night before it was due.

Sentence Introduction Examples
Subsequently, the student’s essay was poorly organized and undeveloped.

Sentence Introduction Examples
Although her initial work was substandard, the student learned to do better the next time.

Sentence Introduction Examples
The student drafted her second paper a week before it was due; as a result, she had time to revise it before turning it in.

2) Comma Between Clauses
Traffic-cop comma holds back the end of a clause to make way for another independent clause:
IC, for/and/nor/but/or/yet/so IC.

Comma Between Clauses
I exist , for I cogitate. It sounds pretentious , yet I wrote it anyway.
I could have written something better
, but this is PowerPoint , and the slides don’t have room!

Keep compound elements together!
No commas in compound predicates: S V and V.
I ate a sandwich and drank some ginger ale.

No Commas in Compounds
A good money manager controls expenses and invests surplus dollars to meet future needs
(Hacker 288).

No Commas in Compounds
Marie Curie discovered radium and later applied her work on radioactivity to medicine
(Hacker 302).

No Commas in Compounds
I was impressed that he knew how to cook an omelet and that he enjoyed helping others.

No Commas in Compounds
She was pleased to note that the band had reunited and that the former manager had been fired.

2) Comma Between Clauses
Clause , optional element.
“optional” = nonessential
Nonessential elements give the reader information, but they are not required for grammatical understanding.

Clause
optional element.
For school, the children need sturdy backpacks, which are expensive.
I ran off without my food, despite my spending four hours preparing it the night before.

Clause, optional element.
Elvis Presley made music industry history in the 1950s, his records having sold more than ten million copies
(Hacker 297).

Clause, {FANBOYS} clause.
The van was shaped like a toe, and its engine roared like a hippo.

Clause, {FANBOYS} clause.
My backpack was clean and bright orange in January, but it was dingy and smelled bad by the end of the quarter.

3) To insert a phrase into a clause
Anything between subject and verb is an insertion.
There need to be commas before and after the inserted element.

Phrase Inserted into Clause
Natural foods are not always salt free; celery , for example , contains more sodium than most people would imagine
(Hacker 297).

Phrase Inserted into Clause
Many dark bitter fruits , such as blueberries, cranberries, and black cherries , have healthful antioxidants .

Inserted Adjective Clause:
Ed’s house , which is located on thirteen acres, was furnished with bats in the rafters and mice in the kitchen (Hacker 294).

Prepositional phrases or verbal phrases functioning as adjectives:
The helicopter , with its millioncandlepower spotlight illuminating the area, circled above (Hacker 295).

Appositives (nonessential)
Darwin’s most important book , On the Origin of
Species, was the result of many years of research
(Hacker 295).

Essential —No Commas
The song “Vertigo” was blasted out of huge amplifiers (Hacker 295).

The writer’s purpose can determine if info essential or not:
The cake made with coconut was delicious.
This identifies which cake out of two or more (and it is part of the subject) = essential

The cake , made with coconut, was delicious.
This adds information about the only cake discussed.
=nonessential

4) Items in a list
Commas divide separate items in a series:
Bubbles of air, leaves, ferns, bits of wood, and insects are often found trapped in amber (290).

Separate Items in a List
But . . .
I was served macaroni and cheese, broccoli, and eggs.

Coordinate Adjectives
He was a no-good, low-down, dirty, rotten rascal.
If the adj’s can switch places without altering the meaning, they are coordinate adjectives.

No comma: cumulative adjectives
Three large gray shapes moved slowly toward us (Hacker
292).
(Three(large(gray shapes)))

• Set off nouns of direct address
• The words “yes” and “no”
• Interrogative tags
• Mild interjections
• Dialogue tags (verbs of saying)
• Afterthoughts

• Forgive us , Dr. Atkins, for having rolls with dinner (Hacker
298). [direct address]
• Yes, the loan will probably be approved. [Yes/No tag]
• The film was faithful to the book , wasn’t it? [Interrog. tag]

• Well, cases like these are difficult to decide. [Mild interjection]
• I laughed when he muttered,
“That’s what she said.” [dialogue]
• The bass weighed twelve pounds, give or take a few ounces
(Hacker 297). [afterthought]

Other Uses of the Comma
Dates:
On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted, turning daylight into dusk.
No comma for inverted dates: 18 May 2013
No comma for only month + year: May 2013

Place names, except ZIP
John Lennon was born in
Liverpool, England, in 1940.
Please send the package to
Greg Tarvin at 708 Spring Street,
Champaign, Illinois 61820.

Title Following Name
Gregory House, M.D.
Sue Lau, Ph.D.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of
Germany

Numbers four or more digits:
3,500
13,500
135,000,000

Commas: They’re about the Clauses!
1. Intro, SV.
2. SV, {FANBOYS} SV.
3. S, insertion, V.
4. Separate Items in Lists
5.
“Tags” tacked onto IC.

Works Cited
Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 6 th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2008. Print.