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