goals for today characterize the comma and its role in sentences view and discuss five reliable...

The Comma:Five Main Rules

Goals For Today

• Characterize the comma and its role in sentences

• View and discuss five reliable rules for comma placement

• If there is time, we’ll practice identifying where and why to use commas in an exercise

The Comma: The Traffic CopThe comma

regulates the flow of phrases and clauses in

a sentence.

Five Main Comma Rules–A Preview—

1) After sentence introductions:

Intro, SV.

SV; TE, SV.

2) Between clauses:

SV, {FANBOYS} SV.

SV, DC.

SV, {FANBOYS} SV, DC.

3) To insert elements

into clauses:

S, phrase, V.

S, clause, V.

4) To separate items in a list:

a, b, and c

adj, adj noun

5) Tags:

I said, “I quote.”

“Frankly, my dear,” he said, “I quote, too.”

Let’s Examine the 5 in Detail

1) Intro, SV.= Introductory word group, subject verb.

Subject + Verb = Clause The subject is the person or

thing that does the action.

The verb = action.

Independent ClauseA clause has a subject and verb.

An independent clause has enough information about the subject and verb that it can stand on its own and not leave a reader confused.

Anything before the subject of the first independent clause (IC) is the introductory word group.

Introductory Word Group

Believing she had plenty of

time, the student put off writing

her paper until the night before it

was due.

Sentence Introduction Examples

Subsequently, the student’s

essay was poorly organized

and undeveloped.

Sentence Introduction Examples

Sentence Introduction Examples

Although her initial work

was substandard, the student

learned to do better the next time.

The student drafted her second

paper a week before it was due; as

a result, she had time to revise it

before turning it in.

Sentence Introduction Examples

Traffic-cop comma holds back the end of a clause to make way for another independent clause:

IC, for/and/nor/but/or/yet/so IC.

2) Comma Between Clauses

Comma Between Clauses

I exist, for I cogitate. It sounds

pretentious, yet I wrote it anyway.

I could have written something

better, but this is PowerPoint,and the slides don’t have room!

Keep compound elements together!

No commas in compound predicates: S V and V.

I ate a sandwich and drank

some ginger ale.

No Commas in Compounds

A good money manager controls

expenses and invests surplus

dollars to meet future needs

(Hacker 288).

Marie Curie discovered radium

and later applied her work on

radioactivity to medicine (Hacker 302).

No Commas in Compounds

I was impressed that he knew how

to cook an omelet and that he

enjoyed helping others.

No Commas in Compounds

She was pleased to note that the

band had reunited and that the

former manager had been fired.

No Commas in Compounds

2) Comma Between ClausesClause, optional element.

“optional” = nonessential

Nonessential elements give the reader information, but they are not required for grammatical understanding.

Clause, optional element.

For school, the children need sturdy

backpacks, which are expensive.

I ran off without my food, despite my

spending four hours preparing it the

night before.

Elvis Presley made music industry

history in the 1950s, his records having

sold more than ten million copies

(Hacker 297).

Clause, optional element.

Clause, {FANBOYS} clause.

The van was shaped like a toe,

and its engine roared like a hippo.

Clause, {FANBOYS} clause.

My backpack was clean and bright orange in January, but it was dingy and smelled bad by the end of the quarter.

3) To insert a phrase into a clause

Anything between subject and verb is an insertion. There need to be commas before and after the inserted element.

Phrase Inserted into Clause

Natural foods are not always

salt free; celery, for example, contains more sodium than most people would imagine (Hacker 297).

Phrase Inserted into Clause

Many dark bitter fruits, such as blueberries, cranberries,

and black cherries, have healthful antioxidants.

Ed’s house, which is located on

thirteen acres, was furnished

with bats in the rafters and mice

in the kitchen (Hacker 294).

Inserted Adjective Clause:

The helicopter, with its million-

candlepower spotlight

illuminating the area, circled

above (Hacker 295).

Prepositional phrases or verbal phrases functioning as adjectives:

Darwin’s most important

book, On the Origin of

Species, was the result of

many years of research

(Hacker 295).

Appositives (nonessential)

Essential—No Commas

The song “Vertigo” was

blasted out of huge

amplifiers (Hacker 295).

The cake made with coconut was delicious.

This identifies which cake out of two or more (and it is part of the subject) = essential

The writer’s purpose can determine if info essential or not:

The cake, made with coconut, was delicious.

This adds information about

the only cake discussed.

=nonessential

Commas divide separate itemsin a series:

Bubbles of air, leaves, ferns, bits of wood, and insects are often found trapped in amber (290).

4) Items in a list

Separate Items in a ListBut . . .I was served macaroni and cheese, broccoli, and eggs.

Coordinate Adjectives

He was a no-good, low-down, dirty,

rotten rascal.

If the adj’s can switch places without altering the meaning, they are coordinate adjectives.

No comma: cumulative adjectives

Three large gray shapes moved slowly toward us (Hacker

292).

(Three(large(gray shapes)))

• Set off nouns of direct address

• The words “yes” and “no”

• Interrogative tags

• Mild interjections

• Dialogue tags (verbs of saying)

• Afterthoughts

5) Tags

• Forgive us, Dr. Atkins, for having rolls with dinner (Hacker 298). [direct address]

• Yes, the loan will probably be approved. [Yes/No tag]

• The film was faithful to the book, wasn’t it? [Interrog. tag]

• Well, cases like these are difficult to decide. [Mild interjection]

• I laughed when he muttered, “That’s what she said.” [dialogue]

• The bass weighed twelve pounds, give or take a few ounces (Hacker 297). [afterthought]

Dates:On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens erupted, turning daylight into dusk.

No comma for inverted dates: 18 May 2013

No comma for month + year: May 2013

Other Uses of the Comma

John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England, in 1940.

Please send the package to Greg Tarvin at 708 Spring Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820.

Place names, except ZIP

Gregory House, M.D.

Sue Lau, Ph.D.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany

Title Following Name

3,500

13,500

135,000,000

Numbers four or more digits:

Commas: They’re about the Clauses!

1. Intro, SV.

2. SV, {FANBOYS} SV.

3. S, insertion, V.

4. Separate Items in Lists

5. “Tags” tacked onto IC.

Works Cited

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 6th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.