quote:

ORIGINAL: Stephann

No doubt, I have a lecture fetish (poor gretchen.) 

1. Introductory words and phrases: Once upon a time, I didn't know how to use commas.
   
2. Parenthetical phrases: The parenthetical phrase has an important, often misunderstood, use. It is often used for thought interruptions. Information that is unnecessary to the meaning of the sentence is commonly set off and enclosed by commas. If the information is necessary, no commas should be used.
   
   
3. Restrictive and non-restrictive use: The sentences "I cut down all the trees, which were over six feet tall" and "I cut down all the trees that were over six feet tall" look similar but in fact have very different meanings. In the first sentence, all the trees were cut down, and a detail (that they were over six feet tall) is added. In the second, only some trees were cut down — those over six feet tall; there may have been shorter trees, too, which were not cut down. In the first case, "which were over six feet tall" is set off by a comma because it is a non-restrictive clause (i.e., its removal doesn't alter the meaning of the sentence). In the second, "that were over six feet tall" is a restrictive clause and takes no comma (because if you left it out, the sentence would then say that all the trees were cut down, not just the ones over six feet).
   
4. Parenthetical phrases in sentences may include the following:
   
   
5. Address: My father ate the bagel, John.
   
6. Interjection: My father ate the bagel, gosh darn it!
   
7. Aside: My father, if you don’t mind my telling you this, ate the bagel.
   
8. Appositive: My father, a jaded and bitter man, ate the bagel.
   
9. Absolute phrase: My father, his eyes flashing with rage, ate the bagel.
   
10. Free modifier: My father ate the bagel, chewing with unbridled fury.
    
11. Resumptive modifier: My father ate the bagel, a bagel which no man had yet chewed.
    
12. Summative modifier: My father ate the bagel, a feat which no man had attempted.
    
13. Any phrase that interrupts the flow of the main clause:
    
    
14. My father, chewing with unbridled fury, ate the bagel (free modifier).
    
15. My father, in a fit of rage, ate the bagel (prepositional phrase).
    
16. My father, with no regard for his health, ate the bagel (adverbial phrase).
    
17. My father, despite his lack of teeth, ate the bagel (adverbial phrase).
    
18. Years following dates (this is American usage - whether this is really parenthetical is moot): My father ate a bagel on December 7, 1941, and never ate one again. (See #9 below.)
    
19. States following cities: My father ate a bagel in Dallas, Texas, in 1963.
    
20. In each case, the parenthesised ("as if in parentheses") text is both preceded and followed by a comma, unless that would result in doubling a punctuation mark, or if the parenthetical is at the start or end of the sentence.
    
21. The comma is often used to separate two independent clauses (a group of words that can function as a sentence) that are joined by a co-ordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so, when they are used to connect; the acronym FANBOYS can be used as a memory aid). Some people feel this is obligatory, while others prefer to use the comma only when not doing so would lead to a different reading.
    
    
22. "I passed the test, but he failed." (comma) — "I passed the test" and "He failed" can function as separate sentences
    
23. "I walked home and left shortly after." (no comma) — Although "I walked home" is independent, "left shortly after" is dependent on the first part of the sentence
    
24. The comma is used to separate a dependent clause from the independent clause if the dependent clause comes first.
    
    
25. After I brushed the cat, I lint-rollered my clothes. (comma)
    
26. I lint-rollered my clothes after I brushed the cat. (no comma)
    
27. The comma is used to separate items in lists. However, if the individual items in the list also contain commas, the list is often separated by a semicolon (;)
    
    • A comma before the final "and" or "or" in a list of more than two things is called a serial comma or an Oxford comma:
      
      
    • "We had milk, biscuits, and cream."
      
    • It is called the Oxford comma because its usage is recommended in the style guide of the Oxford University Press.
      
    • Although the Oxford comma is not always used, it may be used in certain sentences to avoid ambiguity.
      
      
    • "I spoke to the boys, Sam and Tom." — "The boys" refers to Sam and Tom.
      
    • "I spoke to the boys, Sam, and Tom." — "The boys", Sam, and Tom are separate units; thus, four or more people were spoken to in all. In such cases, the order of presentation can be rearranged to avoid possible confusion ("I spoke to Sam, Tom and the boys.").
    
    
28. A comma is used to set off quoted material that is the grammatical object of an active verb of speaking or writing.
    
    • Mr. Kershner says, "You should know how to use a comma."
      
      
    • Quotations that follow and support an assertion should be set off by a colon rather than a comma:
      
      • Wordsworth recalls his childhood existence as precious but as now outside his grasp: "Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"
      
      
    • Quotations that are incorporated in ways other than as the object of active verbs of speaking or writing should be punctuated the same as if there were no quotation marks: Mr. Kershner told me that I "should know how to use a comma."
    
    
29. In representing large numbers, English texts use commas separating each group of three digits. This is almost always done for numbers of six or more digits, and optionally for five (or even four) digits. <Note, however, that in other-language texts the numerical use of commas and periods may be reversed (periods to group zeros, comma as decimal point)>.
    
    
30. 1,000,000
    
31. 100,000
    
32. 10,000 or 10000
    
33. 1,000 or 1000
    
34. Commas are used when writing names that are presented last name first.
    
    • Smith, John
    
    
35. Two commas used when writing the date in the following forms:
    
    
36. American English: September 11, 2001, was a momentous day.
    
37. British English: Tuesday, 11 September 2001, was a momentous day.
    
38. A comma is written in an address between the city and the state and again following the state):
    
    • My dog's masseuse lives in New York, NY, most of the year.
      
      • The following comma is commonly omitted by news agencies, but is a grammatical requirement per two rules: one, while considered necessary, the state functions parenthetically (New York city [in NY]) in that a preceding comma mandates a following comma; two, its omission serves incorrectly to separate the sentence ("My dog's masseuse lives in New York" and "NY most of the year").
    
    
39. Fowler's Modern English Usage demonstrates an optional use of commas with two sentences differing only by a comma:
    
    
40. "The teacher beat the scholar with a whip." A simple description.
    
41. "The teacher beat the scholar, with a whip." Expression of outrage.
    
    • An alternative interpretation is that the second example represents a comma used to remove an ambiguity - to clarify that it was the teacher, not the scholar, who had the whip.

1. It binds two sentences more closely than they would be if separated by a full stop/period. It often replaces a conjunction such as and or but. Writers might consider this appropriate where they are trying to indicate a close relationship between two sentences, or a 'run-on' in meaning from one to the next; they don't wish the connection to be broken by the abrupt use of a full-stop.
   
2. It is used as a stronger division than a comma, or a "super comma" to make meaning clear in a sentence where commas are already being used for other purposes. A common example of this use is to separate the items of a list when some of the items themselves contain commas.

1. Use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction: "I went to the pool; it was closed."
   
2. Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase or conjunctive adverb: "I like to ride horses; however, they don't like to be ridden by me."
   
3. Use a semicolon between items in a series containing internal punctuation: "There are several Waffle Houses in Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama."

quote:

ORIGINAL: justheather