COMMA RULESSee page 846 in Elements of Writing

COMMA VOCABULARY Clause: A group of words that contains a verb and its subject

and is used as part of a sentence. Conjunctions: joins words or groups of words

Examples: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet Independent clauses: Also called a main clause: expresses a

complete thought and can stand by itself as a sentence. Nonessential clauses: Also called nonrestrictive: adds

information not necessary to the main idea in the sentence and is set off by commas

Nonessential participial phrases: Consists of a participle and all of the words related to the participle

Nodding his head, …. Florence Griffith Joyner, often called Flo Jo, …

Participle: a verb form that is used as an adjective Waving, the campers boarded the bus Singing lessons

Appositive: A noun or pronoun placed beside another noun or pronoun to identify or explain it.

Appositive phrases: Consists of an appositive and its modifiers

PUNCTUATION CAN CHANGE THE ENTIRE MEANING OF A SENTENCE.

A woman, without her man, is nothing.

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

COMMAS CAN MAKE PANDAS BEHAVE POORLY…

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

“Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

“I’m a panda,” he says, at the door. “Look it up.”

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation…

“Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.

COMMA RULE #1 – USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A SERIES. (29F)

I HAVE MY BINDERS, MY PENS, MY PENCILS, AND MY IPOD IN MY BACKPACK.

COMMA RULE #2 – USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE TWO OR MORE ADJECTIVES PRECEDING A NOUN. (29G)

COMMA RULE #3 – USE COMMAS BEFORE CONJUNCTIONS WHEN THEY JOIN INDEPENDENT CLAUSES. (29H)

COMMA RULE #4 – USE COMMAS TO SET OFF NONESSENTIAL CLAUSES AND NONESSENTIAL PARTICIPIAL PHRASES. (29I)

COMMA RULE #5 – USE COMMAS AFTER CERTAIN INTRODUCTORY ELEMENTS. (29J)

COMMA RULE #6 – USE COMMAS TO SET OFF ELEMENTS THAT INTERRUPT THE SENTENCE. (29K)

COMMA RULE #7 – USE COMMAS IN CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL SITUATIONS. (29L)

*SUGGESTION – DO NOT USE UNNECESSARY COMMAS. WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT. THIS DOES NOT GRANT YOU IMMUNITY FROM USING COMMAS CORRECTLY!

ASSIGNMENT Read through Elements of Writing beginning on

page 846, and find examples of each comma rule. Write three.

Find the exceptions to the rules. Write three.