Commas ,

By: Crystal Muoz, Elizabeth

Ramirez, Jasmin Sierra, Desirae
Bugaj, Brandon Hargrove, Cesar
Mendoza
Rule 1: Commas should be used in a
series of items.

You should use commas to separate items in a list. Some people do

not use commas to separate the last item on the list, but it is required
in MLA format in a list of three or more items.

Ex:

Rose dislikes spinach, carrots, and broccoli.

She ate toast, cereal, eggs, and bacon

My best friends are Rose, Mark, Abigail, and Madison.

Rule 2: Separating Two Independent
Clauses

Two joined independant clauses in a sentence need strong

punctuation, like a comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS).
FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

James does not like broccoli, nor does he like cauliflower.

I have to do work, but Id rather go to sleep.

Rule 3: Use a comma to set off nonessential elements

Information that is added to sentence to add further information. To

show the reader that a word, phrase, or dependent clause is
nonessential information, we add commas before and after the
addition
1. She is, as you can probably tell, pretty nervous about public speaking.
2. As you can probably tell, she is pretty nervous about public speaking.
3. Once upon a time, before television, before computers, people read books for fun.
4. Jake brought his best friends from school, John and Alex, home with him for
Thanksgiving dinner.
Rule 4

Use a comma after an opening clause, word, or phrase

Examples:

After going to the park, we went to the ice cream parlor

Because we have had so much rain this year ,construction of the

new high school will take an additional six months.

Although she originally failed her final, the teacher allowed her to
redo it.
Rule 5: Other Uses for Commas

Other important places to uses commas include:

- Separating cities and states as well as after the state before continuing the
rest of the sentence
- I have lived in San Francisco, California, for most of my life.
- Separating months and years as well as after the years before continuing
- The twins were born in June, 1979, one month before my 30th
birthday.
- Surrounding titles or degrees
- Professor Pete McSeed, Ph.D., received his doctorate from Amherst
College.
- Emphasizing a pause before an important contrast
- Tears were streaming down her face because she was happy, not sad.
Common Misuses

Rose ran for forty minutes, and jogged for ten minutes.
Correction: Rose ran for forty minutes and jogged for ten minutes.

I was born in October, 1999.

Correction: I was born in October 1999.

She hated when she had to go to the park, and she complained the
whole time.
Correction: She hated when she had to go to the park and complained the whole
time.

I like cooking my family and my pets.