25.1: Major Comma Uses

Ask students in an English class what they struggle with most, and one term rises to the top again and again: commas. For such a tiny symbol, the comma causes quite the stir. You can underuse it, overuse it, use it in the wrong place--it can feel like a recipe for confusion. The comma’s primary purpose, though, is to clear things up: you can use commas to separate different parts of a sentence, clarify connections between ideas, or redirect your reader’s attention to highlight important points in a sentence.

As a developing writer, you may sometimes struggle to intuit where commas belong, but there are concrete guidelines you can follow to more confidently identify when to use (or avoid using) a comma. In this chapter, we will focus on eight major uses. There are other instances in which you might use a comma, of course, but if you have a grasp on those we cover here, you will be prepared to take on just about any college writing assignment.

MAJOR COMMA USE	EXAMPLE
Comma Use 1: Create a compound sentence by joining two independent clauses (groups of words that can stand alone as a sentence) with a coordinating conjunction (terms that connect words, phrases or clauses; these include for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so)	Malcolm X did not receive a formal college degree, but he educated himself while in prison.
Comma Use 2: Set off an introductory phrase from an independent clause	While Frederick Douglass is best known as an abolitionist, he was also a vocal advocate for women’s rights.
Comma Use 3: Separate three or more items in a series	The success of authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Amy Tan, and Julia Alvarez speaks to the reading public’s desire for women’s stories.
Comma Use 4: Separate coordinate (but not cumulative) adjectives	Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s epic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude brings to life an intriguing, fantastical town called Macondo.
Comma Use 5: Set off non-essential elements (words or phrases that provide additional information but can be removed without compromising the main point of the sentence)	Junot Diaz, a Dominican American author, often blends standard English, slang, and Spanish in his stories to mimic everyday speech patterns.
Comma Use 6: Introduce quotations	Speaking of her education as an anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston says, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prodding with a purpose.”
Comma Use 7: Organize numbers, names and titles, place names and addresses, and dates	Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man while living at 749 St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan, New York.
Comma Use 8: Indicate direct address	Have you read The New Jim Crow, Sydney?

See this article from Business Insider for another explanation of commas.

 

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