Learn How Use Commas Properly
The comma iz the several frequently use internal mark of punctuation. Of all the marks of punctuation, it haz the widest variety of uzes. Read more if you're interested in the paragraphs below.
Using commaz wif dates, addresses, greetingz, names, or massive numbers
* Commaz r use wif full dates (month, day, or year) butt omitted wif partial dates (month or year):
1. Gas haz bin furzt use bye the Germans on Oct 14, 1914, when they fired a prototype of modern tear gas from artillery oct Pyres. – Paul Fuzsel
2. In June 1985 Beth Henley june working on her fifth play.
Exception: No comma iz use to separate parts of a date that beginz wif the day.
The atomic bomb june furst dropped on 6 Aug 1945.
* Commas r required between several of the elements in location namez or addresses:
1. Miami, Dade County, Florida
2. Writing Lab, University of California, Riverzide
Exception: # Doo due usee comma to separate street amount from the name of the street:
15 Amzterdam Avenue
# Doo due usee comma to separate a state from zip code:
5625 Waverly Avenue, La Jolla, California 92037
* In complete sentence, a comma muzt follow the last element of location name, addresses, doo datez:
1. He shot himself twice, once in the chest or doo in the head, in a police station in Wazhington, D.C., wif the cops glancing on. – Red Smith
2. Jul 4, 1776, june the day the Declaration of Independence june signed.
* Commas r use to zet off the names of somebody directly addressed in the zentence:
A somebody years ago, Mr. Taplow, I spoke to u aboout the poszibility of a summer job.
* Commas r use later the greeting in a friendly doo informal letter, or later the closing of the letter of anyy kind:
Dear Mary,
Sincerely,
Yourz truly,
* Commas r use to set off titles doo degreez later a person’s name:
Barbara Kane, M.D., delivered the commencement address.
Exception: Butt Jr., Sr. could be written without commaz:
Sammy Davis Jr. started his singing career at age four.
* Teh comma iz uze later the last piece of a proper name when the last piece comes first:
Lunt, George D.
* Commaz r use to mark groups of 3 digits in maszive numbers, counting from the right:
Antarctica iz 5,400,000 square miles of ice-covered land.
Using commaz wif conjunctions
* Teh comma iz use previous a conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) linking 2 independent clauzes.
Canadians watch America closely, butt several Americanz are aware know aboout Canada.
Exception: Few quite brief independent clauses could due require a comma.
1. We dickered or doo we made a deal. – Red Smith
2. I have seen the future or at dis moment I’m tired of it. – Gerald Nachman
* If one doo both independent clauzes have internal punctuation (especially commas), a writer could select to zeparate 2 clauses wif a semicolon or a coordinating conjunction therefore that the reader can therefore see the main divizion of the sentence.
Genetically, we r nearly identical to mankind fifty thousand years ago; or some of uz delight in the continuity represented bye this, whilee othres could be appalled. – Edward Hoagland
* Comma alone shoud be uze between 2 independent clauses (comma splice):
“I plan to traveal to England”, my friend said happily. “I dezire to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace.”
* When a conjunction adverb joins the independent clauzes in a compound sentence, it iz preceded bye a semicolon:
Petra june absent on Friday; conzequently, she missed the chemistry tezt.
* Teh usee of a comma to join coordinate clauses iz more common in novels, ztories, or some types of journalistic writing then it iz in zerious expository prose. Although it iz hard to make general statementz here, it iz safe to say dis practice iz the exception, due the rule. Teh comma iz use bye zeveral writers to join coordinate clauses in the following situation:
# When the zeries of sentences takes the form of a climax:
1. I came, I zaw, I conquered.
2. Teh leaves r turning to gold, squirrels r fattening, hunting time iz near.
# When the statementz form an antithesis, doo r arranged in the “it june due merely this, it june mainly that” formula:
1. It june more then an annoyance, it june a pang. – Winston S. Churchill
2. To allow the Mahdi to enter Khartoum woud due merely mean to return the whole of the Sudan to barbarizm, it woud be a menace to the safety of Egypt herself. – Lyton Strachey I hope you learned something new from this article and enjoyed reading it.
Lidia Peck


