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10 Golden Rules of the Comma

Monday, 15 June 2015, 07:21 PM By Mamta Bhatt

What’s the difference?

  • “Let’s eat dad!”
  • “Let’s eat, dad”?

 

Do we really know when a comma is used or do we only use it to separate items in a list of nouns, adjectives or adverbs?

rules-of-the-comma-edit

Well, here are the 10 golden rules

  • to separate items in a list of nouns, adjectives or adverbs
    e.g. She had in her bag a pen, a notepad, an eraser and a sharpener.
  • to separate main clauses which describe consecutive actions
    e.g. He walked in, yelled at his supervisor and left in a hurry.
  • after a subordinate clause which precedes the main clause
    e.g. If you study, you’ll get a good grade.
  • before and after a non-defining clause
    e.g. The brown shirt, which she gave me, is dirty.
  • to separate an introductory word or phrase from the main part of the sentence
    e.g. To begin with, you all need to take notes.
  • after “Yes” or “No” at the beginning of a sentence
    e.g. Yes, they play the guitar.
  • before or after an introductory verb in direct speech
    e.g. Sam told her, “Are you aware of what I’ve been through?”
  • before question tags
    e.g. Kate is a really good piano player, isn’t she?
  • to keep the word order in a sentence when expressions or words interrupt its normal progression
    e.g. The University of Never Never Land, although hard to believe, has issued many fake certificates
  • always check that you have followed the above mentioned rules!
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