COMMAS

1)  Commas Between Items in a Series

Ex: Last semester I took math, reading, and composition.

item, item, item, and item

2)  Commas in Compound Sentence

Ex: Tom missed class yesterday, and he called to ask me what he missed.

Sentence, for – and – nor – but – or – yet – so Sentence
(coordinating conjunctions: fanboys)

3)  Commas after Introductory Word Groups

Ex: According to the paper, the crime rate went down.

Introductory word or word group, Main part of sentence

4)  Commas around Appositives and Interrupters

Appositive: A phrase that renames a noun and is directly before or after the noun.

·  Another phenomenon, air rage, involves out-of-control and often intoxicated passengers on an airplane.

·  One famous air rage incident, a confrontation between a drunken businessman and flight attendant, ended with the passenger tied to his seat for the rest of the flight.

Interrupter: An aside or transition that interrupts the flow of a sentence and does not affect its meaning.

·  Road rage, as most people have heard, occurs when an angry driver overreacts.

·  Ground rage, as the name suggests, occurs in the terminal, not in the air.

Essential appositives: Sometimes, an appositive is essential to the meaning of a sentence. When a sentence would not have the same meaning without the appositive, the appositive should not be set off with commas.

·  The actor John Travolta has never won an Academy Award.

·  The lawyer Clarence Darrow was one of history’s greatest speakers.

5)  Commas around Adjective Clauses

Adjective Clause: A group of words that often begins with who, which, or that. It has a subject and verb and describes the noun right before it in a sentence. If you can take the clause out of the sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence, put commas around it.

·  The mayor, who was recently elected, has no political experience.

·  SuperShop, which is the largest supermarket in town, was recently bought by Big Boy Markets.

Noun Adjective Clause Rest of Sentence
Essential to meaning
Noun, Adjective Clause , Rest of Sentence
Not essential to meaning