Department Handouts

Twelve Comma Rules

1. Use a comma to separate coordinate elements.

a cold, drafty room a difficult, unfair exam

Maria brushed her long, shining hair.

2. Use a comma after long, introductory subordinate clauses.

Because the instructions for the process were unclear, I was unable to assemble the bookcase.

While my twenty-three classmates spent the weekend studying for the Mid-Term

examination, I spent my time earning $400 for my holiday trip

3. Use a comma before coordinating conjunctions in a compound sentence (or in a compound-complex sentence).

He was angry, but he didn't say a word.

Everyone in the class wrote an interesting narrative, but only two students received A's.

4. Use commas to set off appositives.

George Bush, the forty-second President of the United States, claims Houston as one of his permanent homes.

5. Use commas in non-essential or parenthetical expressions.

Your answer, however, is wrong. Your answer, I must say, is silly.

Krystin's remark, I believe, alerted her young sister of the danger.

Deliverance was, in short, a powerful film.

6. Use commas after introductory words and phrases, and in transitional expressions.

To get along with parents, listen when they give orders.

Fortunately, Robert got up the nerve to propose.

Yes, I can meet you in the cafeteria.

7. Use commas to separate items or phrases in a series.

My favorite pastimes are skiing, bowling, and dancing.

8. Use a comma or commas in nouns of address.

I wonder, Andrea, if your mom is waiting outside.

Son, you'd better leave.

I'm sure, Stacey, that you are right.

9. Use commas in nonrestrictive clauses.

(restrictive) My sisters who live in Dallas visited Houston.

(non-restrictive) My sisters, who live in Dallas, visited Houston.

10. Use a comma between any words that might be read incorrectly without a comma

(to clarify meaning and to prevent misreading).

Not: While we were eating the phone rang. But: While we were eating, . . .

Not: Before he had been angry. But: Before, he had been angry.

11. Use a comma to set off direct quotations.

"Winning isn't everything," Vince Lombardi said.

"I think you're wrong," he said, "but I won't argue."

12. Use commas in dates and addresses.

July 4, 1976, was our bicentennial.

From 1982 till 1984, I lived at 1415 Fernwood-Glendale, Spartanburg, South Carolina.