Commas

ENG302 : The Class : The Process : Final Preparation : Commas
Punctuation: Commas

PUNCTUATION

The various symbols used to indicate stress, pause, and intonation are referred to as punctuation marks. Like most matters of correctness, the rules for punctuation change over time. Some of the most important current punctuation rules follow.

Other Punctuation Marks

Often punctuation marks indicate pauses, pitches, and stresses normally indicated by voice modulation in the spoken language. The semicolon, the colon, the dash, and the comma all link sentences and sentence parts together in varying degrees of looseness or tightness.

COMMA

Certainly no mark of punctuation is more common than the comma and probably no mark of punctuation is more commonly misused either. Some writers want to stick in commas everywhere, while others have outlawed the comma altogether. Rarely is either extreme justified.

Generally speaking, the comma marks a shift in direction of the written sentence, or a slight pause in the sentence if it were spoken.

1. A comma sets off an opening word or phrase in a sentence.

Normally, we do not hire any temporary help.

Besides miscalculating all the profits, Stenson helped himself to some excess inventory.

For the first time in the study, the trip gate functioned as it was supposed to.

When the customer misses a payment, a late charge is assessed.

Each of these sentences can be rewritten to eliminate the introductory phrase or clause, which eliminates the pause in the sentence, and thus the need for the comma.

We do not normally hire any temporary help.

Stenson miscalculated all the profits and also helped himself to some excess inventory.

The trip gate functioned as it was supposed to for the first time in the study.

A late charge is assessed when the customer misses a payment.

2. A comma sets off a clause placed at the end of a sentence, if that clause marks a definite shift in the sentence and it couldn't stand alone grammatically.

A late charge must be assessed, unless the customer applies for an extension.

The bridge collapsed quickly, as though a bomb had hit it.

3. A comma is used between two independent clauses joined by a co ordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so, etc.).

The inspector refused to pass my car, and I think he was right to do so.

Smith was hired to turn the company around, yet this has been our worst quarter ever.

However, the comma is not used if the two clauses have the same subject.

The environmental specialist did not protect the environment and lied to protect the company.

4. Commas generally separate items in a series.

The environment was safe, the company was making a profit, and the stockholders were getting big dividends.

We need supervisors who are fair, understanding, and reliable.

5. Commas set off an adjective clause if the additional information in the clause is not necessary to specify the noun being modified, but only adds extra information about the noun. If the information in the clause is necessary to identify the noun itself, then the commas are not used.

All personnel who have not yet taken vacation time this year are eligible for a special bonus.

In this case the adjective clause specifies certain individuals in the group personnel. Hence the commas are not used.

My boss, who is a real stickler, would never allow us to have a slush fund.

In this case the adjective clause adds extra information, but does not specify who the boss is. (My already does that.) Hence the commas are used.

Here are two more examples.

The Arab oil cartel, the most powerful economic force in the seventies, caused the gasoline panic of 1974.

The Arab oil cartel is the pressure group that most powerfully affected the world's economy in the 1970s.

E-mail Greg Larkin at Gregory.Larkin@nau.edu
or call (520) 523-4911

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