LET’S TALK GRAMMAR:

FROM THE COMMA SUTRA: COMMAS IN THE REAL WORLD

Written by Mamie Webb HixonUWF Writing Lab Director

PowerPoint Created by Lindsey ManningWriting Lab Graduate Assistant

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Are You a Comma-kazi*?--a destroyer of sentence

meaning?

• Let’s eat Grandma! -----> Let’s eat, Grandma!• While we were eating a rattlesnake approached our While we were eating a rattlesnake approached our

campsite. ---> campsite. ---> ??• If you cook Ingrid will wash the dishes.--> If you cook Ingrid will wash the dishes.--> ??

*A kamikazi is defined by Dictionary.com as the following:“3. a person or thing that behaves in a wildly reckless or destructive manner.”

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“THE OXFORD COMMA”

Stephen Colbert (6/3/10) quoting Strunk and White in defense of the "Oxford comma.”

  http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-rep

ort-videos/310042/june-03-2010/vampire-weekend

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USING COMMAS PURPOSEFULLY

Deanine the intern is enrolled in a business class.

Deanine, the intern is enrolled in a business class.

Deanine, the intern, is enrolled in a business class.

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The performing, literary, and visual arts

Voice mail, call waiting, caller ID, and much more

Fast service, free shipping, big savings

three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992

Congress, the White House, and national politics.

U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-

Constitution, and the Boston Globe.

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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE ITEMS IN A SERIES.

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Links, pictures and quotes

UWF students can choose from undergraduate

degrees in 50 different areas, master's degrees

in 24 different areas, two specialist degrees and a doctorate in education.

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THE OPTIONAL COMMA PRECEDING AND STILL APPLIES.

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Cash or check or debit card

The Postman’s Creed: Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor dark of night shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

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NO COMMAS IF ALL ITEMS ARE JOINED BY A COORDINATING CONJUNCTION

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Online and mail-order shopping can be convenient and timesaving with appropriate precautions, and they are safe as well.

No one writes letters anymore, or so it seems.  People are turning to e-mail and the Internet to pay bills and

keep in touch, so no one writes letters anymore. Parents once automatically gave their children the father's

surname, but some no longer do. 

Instead, they bestow the mother's name, for they believe that the mother's importance should be recognized.

 

Many women are concerned about breast cancer, and many men face a similar health worry with prostate cancer.

 

Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. 11

USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE TWO SENTENCES SEPARATED BY A COORDINATING CONJUNCTION. 

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Television advertising is expensive and sometimes very effective.

 The recently built children’s amusement park

has been called “a boon to the community” by its supporters and “an eyesore” by its harshest critics.

 Losing weight causes fat cells to shrink and

become less metabolically active. Are you the result of what has happened to

you or what you’ve made happen?

To be or not to be, that is the question.13

NO COMMA TO SEPARATE COMPOUND ELEMENTS WITHIN A SENTENCE 

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I came, I saw, I nothinged.

Don’t ask , don’t tell.

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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE SHORT THREE- TO FOUR-WORD SENTENCES IN A SERIES.

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T. Boone Pickens explains his plan for

alternative, domestic energy in a 60-second TV commercial.

A three-hour, in-depth CSPAN interview

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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE A SERIES OF INTERCHANGEABLE ADJECTIVES.

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The incredible edible egg

Innovative new technology

Free digital television

Affordable health insurance

A United States driver’s license

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NO COMMAS TO SEPARATE ADJECTIVES THAT ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE

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Thank you, staff members, for your support.

This is a bogus email, isn’t it?

Military members, we appreciate you for your service to our country.

 

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USE COMMAS TO SET OFF WORDS IN DIRECT ADDRESS AND TAG QUESTIONS.

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December 7, 1941, is a date which will live in infamy.

 By law, households will

need to take steps to receive a

digital television signal by February

17, 2009, when all full-power stations must

begin broadcasting only in digital.

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USE COMMAS AFTER ITEMS IN A DATE.

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People can request a converter box between January 2011 and March 2012.

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NO COMMAS IF DATE CONSISTS OF ONLY TWO ITEMS

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Lombard Street in San Francisco, California, is billed as the most crooked street in the world.

155 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, California

90210, is an address in one of California’s ritziest neighborhoods, where apartments are $7,500 a month.

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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE GEOGRAPHIC ITEMS FROM THE SENTENCE.

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For a college student, picking a major is no easy task. Whether a student's dream is starting his or her own business, going into the medical field, or broadcasting to the world, the 10,380 students enrolled at the University of West Florida have many options.

 

Yes, portmanteaus for celebrities include Desilu, Billary, Bennifer, Brangelina, and Nickariah.

If it weren’t for the war, terrorism, and the election, 2004 might well be remembered as the Year of the Search.

Whenever you travel by car, buckle your seat belt.

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USE A COMMA AFTER INTRODUCTORY ELEMENTS: WORDS, PHRASES, AND CLAUSES.

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Buckle your seat belt whenever you travel by car.

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NO COMMA WHEN THE INTRODUCTORY ELEMENT IS AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE

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Grey’s Anatomy, a drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five

surgical interns and their supervisors, airs on the ABC network.

 

Shonda Rhimes, its creator, lives in Los Angeles.

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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE A NONRESTRICTIVE APPOSITIVE FROM THE WORD IT RENAMES. 

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Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes accepted the award for Outstanding Drama Series.

The TV series Grey’s Anatomy is centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book The Scarlet Letter is an

American classic.

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NO COMMAS TO SEPARATE RESTRICTIVE INFORMATION FROM THE WORD IT RENAMES

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Denver, which is known as the Mile-High City, is the capital of Colorado.

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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE NONRESTRICTIVE “WHICH”-CLAUSES.

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The city which is the capital of Colorado has an altitude of one mile.

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NO COMMA TO SEPARATE RESTRICTIVE “WHICH”-CLAUSES

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The speaker’s comments, however, had the unintended effect of catapulting the politically incorrect statement into mainstream speech.

Her comments, of course, spawned a number of blogs.

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USE COMMAS TO SEPARATE INTERRUPTERS AND PARENTHETICAL WORDS AND PHRASES FROM THE REST OF THE SENTENCE.

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Barack Obama famously said, “We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

"The growth of the Internet, electronic communications, and electronic commerce

has affected the U. S. Postal Service,” said the Postmaster General.

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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE A DIRECT QUOTATION FROM ITS EXPLANATORY TAG.

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The word blog is a portmanteau, not an

abbreviation or an acronym, for “web log.”

The idea was met with acceptance, not anger.

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it, so autograph your work with

excellence, not mediocrity.

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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE CONTRASTING STATEMENTS FROM THE REST OF THE SENTENCE.

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The King dynasty includes Martin Luther King, Jr., and Martin Luther King III.

MLK earned a doctorate degree, so his name

can be written Martin Luther King, Ph.D.

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USE A COMMA TO SEPARATE AN ACADEMIC OR BIRTH RANK TITLE SUCH AS “JR.” OR “SR.” FROM A NAME, BUT NO COMMA IS USED BETWEEN A NAME AND A ROMAN NUMERAL BIRTH RANK.

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