RULES FOR COMMA USAGE

1. Useacommatoseparatetheelementsinaseries(threeormorethings),
includingthelasttwo."Hehittheball,droppedthebat,andrantofirstbase."You
mayhavelearnedthatthecommabeforethe"and"isunnecessary,whichisfineif
you'[Link],therearesituationsinwhich,ifyoudon'tuse
thiscomma(especiallywhenthelistiscomplexorlengthy),theselasttwoitems
inthelistwilltrytoglomtogether(likemacaroniandcheese).Usingacomma
betweenalltheitemsinaseries,includingthelasttwo,[Link]
lastcommatheonebetweentheword"and"andtheprecedingwordisoften
[Link],
incidentally,youwillseldomfindaserialcomma,butthatisnotnecessarilya
signthatitshouldbeomittedinacademicprose.
2. Useacomma+alittleconjunction(and,but,for,nor,yet,or,so)toconnect
twoindependentclauses,asin"Hehittheballwell,butherantowardthird
base."
Contendingthatthecoordinatingconjunctionisadequateseparation,somewriters
willleaveoutthecommainasentencewithshort,balancedindependentclauses
(suchasweseeintheexamplejustgiven).Ifthereiseveranydoubt,however,
usethecomma,asitisalwayscorrectinthissituation.
Oneofthemostfrequenterrorsincommausageistheplacementofacomma
[Link]
beforetheconjunctionandneverafter,butitwouldbearareevent,indeed,that
[Link],we
dosometimespauseafterthelittleconjunction,butthereisseldomagoodreason
toputacommathere.
3. Useacommatosetoffintroductoryelements,asin"Runningtowardthird
base,hesuddenlyrealizedhowstupidhelooked."
Itispermissibletoomitthecommaafterabriefintroductoryelementifthe
[Link]
doubt,usethecomma,asitisalwayscorrect.

4. Useacommatosetoffparentheticalelements,asin"TheFoundersBridge,
whichspanstheConnecticutRiver,isfallingdown."By"parentheticalelement,"
wemeanapartofasentencethatcanberemovedwithoutchangingtheessential
[Link]"added
information."Thisisthemostdifficultruleinpunctuationbecauseitissometimes
unclearwhatis"added"or"parenthetical"andwhatisessentialtothemeaningof
asentence
Appositivesarealmostalwaystreatedasparentheticalelements.

Calhoun'sambition,tobecomeagoalieinprofessionalsoccer,iswithinhis
reach.
Eleanor,hiswifeofthirtyyears,suddenlydecidedtoopenherownbusiness.

Sometimestheappositiveandtheworditidentifiesaresocloselyrelatedthatthecomma
canbeomitted,asin"HiswifeEleanorsuddenlydecidedtoopenherownbusiness."We
couldarguethatthename"Eleanor"isnotessentialtothemeaningofthesentence
(assuminghehasonlyonewife),andthatwouldsuggestthatwecanputcommasboth
beforeandafterthename(andthatwould,indeed,becorrect).But"hiswife"and
"Eleanor"aresoclosethatwecanregardtheentirephraseasoneunitandleaveoutthe
[Link],however,wehaveamoredefiniteparenthetical
elementandthecommasarenecessary:"Eleanor,hiswife,suddenlydecidedtoopenher
ownbusiness."Consider,also,thedifferencebetween"CollegePresidentIraRubenzahl
votedtorescindthewithdrawalpolicy"(inwhichweneedthename"IraRubenzahl"or
thesentencedoesn'tmakesense)and"IraRubenzahl,thecollegepresident,votedto
rescindthewithdrawalpolicy"(inwhichthesentencemakessensewithouthistitle,the
appositive,andwetreattheappositiveasaparentheticalelement,withapairofcommas).
Whenaparentheticalelementaninterjection,adverbialmodifier,orevenan
adverbialclausefollowsacoordinatingconjunctionusedtoconnecttwoindependent
clauses,wedonotputacommainfrontoftheparentheticalelement.

TheRedSoxwereleadingtheleagueattheendofMay,butofcourse,they
alwaysdowellinthespring.[nocommaafter"but"]
TheYankeesdidn'tdosowellintheearlygoing,butfrankly,everyone
expectsthemtowintheseason.[nocommaafter"but"]

TheTigersspentmuchoftheseasonatthebottomoftheleague,andeven
thoughtheypickedupseveralpromisingrookies,theyexpecttobethere
againnextyear.[nocommaafter"and"]

Whenbothacity'snameandthatcity'sstateorcountry'snamearementioned
together,thestateorcountry'snameistreatedasaparentheticalelement.

WevisitedHartford,Connecticut,lastsummer.
Paris,France,issometimescalled"TheCityofLights."

Whenthestatebecomesapossessiveform,thisruleisnolongerfollowed:

Hartford,Connecticut'sinvestmentintheinsuranceindustryiswellknown.

Also,whenthestateorcountry'snamebecomespartofacompoundstructure,thesecond
commaisdropped:

Heublein,aHartford,Connecticutbasedcompany,ismovingtoanother
state.

Anabsolutephraseisalwaystreatedasaparentheticalelement,asisan
[Link]'[Link],
however,[Link]
Vocatives,thevariousformsthataparentheticalelementrelatedtoanaddressedperson's
namecantake,isalsoavailable.

Theiryearsoftrainingnowforgotten,thesoldiersbrokeranks.
Yes,itisalwaysamatter,ofcourse,ofpreparationandattitude.
I'mtellingyou,Juanita,Icouldn'tbemoresurprised.(ItoldJuanitaI
couldn'tbemoresurprised.[nocommas])

5. [Link]
"Thattall,distinguished,goodlookingfellow"rule(asopposedto"thelittleold
lady").Ifyoucanputanandorabutbetweentheadjectives,acommawill
[Link],youcouldsay,"Heisatallanddistinguished
fellow"or"Iliveinaveryoldandrundownhouse."Soyouwouldwrite,"Heisa
tall,distinguishedman"and"Iliveinaveryold,rundownhouse."Butyou
wouldprobablynotsay,"Sheisalittleandoldlady,"or"Iliveinalittleand

purplehouse,"socommaswouldnotappearbetweenlittleandoldorbetween
littleandpurple.
6. [Link]'tusequotedmaterial
allthetime,evenwhenwriting,thisisprobablythemostdifficultruleto
[Link]
usesseveralquotations,photocopythatpage,andkeepitinfrontofyouasa
modelwhenyou'[Link],useacommatoseparatequotedmaterial
fromtherestofthesentencethatexplainsorintroducesthequotation:

Summingupthisargument,PeterCoveneywrites,"Thepurposeand
strengthoftheromanticimageofthechildhadbeenabovealltoestablisha
relationbetweenchildhoodandadultconsciousness."

Ifanattributionofaquotedelementcomesinthemiddleofthequotation,two
[Link].

"Thequestionis,"saidAlice,"whetheryoucanmakewordsmeansomany
things."

"Ishouldliketobuyanegg,please,"shesaidtimidly."Howdoyousell
them?"

Becarefulnottousecommastosetoffquotedelementsintroducedbytheword
thatorquotedelementsthatareembeddedinalargerstructure:

PeterCoveneywritesthat"[t]hepurposeandstrengthof..."
Weoftensay"Sorry"whenwedon'treallymeanit.

And,insteadofacomma,useacolontosetoffexplanatoryorintroductory
languagefromaquotedelementthatiseitherveryformalorlong(especiallyifit's
longerthanonesentence):

PeterCoveneyhadthistosayaboutthenineteenthcentury'suseofchildren
infiction:"Thepurposeandstrengthof...."

7. Usecommastosetoffphrasesthatexpresscontrast.

Somesaytheworldwillendinice,notfire.
Itwashermoney,nothercharmorpersonality,thatfirstattractedhim.
The puppies were cute, but very messy.
8. [Link]
rule#3.
Formosttheyearisalreadyfinished.
Formost,theyearisalreadyfinished.
Outsidethelawnwasclutteredwithhundredsofbrokenbranches.
Outside,thelawnwasclutteredwithhundredsofbrokenbranches.
9. GrammarEnglish'sFamousRuleofPunctuation:Neveruseonlyonecomma
betweenasubjectanditsverb."Believingcompletelyandpositivelyinoneself
isessentialforsuccess."[Althoughreadersmightpauseaftertheword"oneself,"
thereisnoreasontoputacommathere.]
10. TypographicalReasons:Betweenacityandastate[Hartford,Connecticut],a
dateandtheyear[June15,1997],anameandatitlewhenthetitlecomesafterthe
name[BobDowney,ProfessorofEnglish],inlongnumbers[5,456,783and
$14,682],[Link]
BobDowney,Jr.,RichardHarrison,IIIthiscommaisnolongerregardedas
necessarybymostcopyeditors,andsomeindividualssuchasMartinLuther
[Link]
Notethatweuseacommaorasetofcommastomaketheyearparenthetical
whenhedateofthemonthisincluded:

July4,1776,isregardedasthebirthdateofAmericanliberty.

Withoutthedateitself,however,thecommadisappears:

July1776wasoneofthemosteventfulmonthsinourhistory.

Ininternationalormilitaryformat,nocommasareused:

TheDeclarationofIndependencewassignedon4July1776.