Comma Uses

Copy the following reasons to use commas in your blog. For each reason, create 2 of your own examples.

1) ITEMS IN A SERIES. Use commas to separate items in a list, e.g. "I packed my cheese, sandals, umbrella and sunscreen for my trip to New York." Some writers will debate whether a comma is necessary before the and. Either with or without is acceptable as long as your writing is consistent throughout.

2) TO SEPARATE PARTS OF AN ADDRESS. E.g. "The Prime Minister of Canada lives at 24 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, Ontario."

3) TO MARK OF AN INTRODUCTORY WORD OR PHRASE. E.g. "Yes, I'll have some cheese." Or "Glad you are here, can we please get started?"

4) DIRECT ADDRESS. Put commas before and after a person's name as appropriate when they are being referred to directly. Consider the difference between, "Let's eat, Mark." and "Let's eat Mark."

5) TO SEPARATE PARTS OF A DATE. E.g. "Everyone will remember theevents of Tuesday, September 11, 2001."

6) TO INDICATE AN APPOSITE PHRASE. Apposite is just a fancy word for beside.' Advanced writers often include extra information in apposite phrases which enables them to combine short choppy sentences. E.G. "Helium's founder, Mark Ranalli, often contributes to the website's community boards."

7) TO MARK OFF AN ADVERBIAL PHRASE. Generally speaking, a phrase that establishes time or place of the main clause, or how it is carried out, is an adverbial phrase. E.g. "When your work is finished, you may play outside."

8) TO MARK OFF AN INTERRUPTION. E.g. "London Heathrow Airport, you'd have to see it to believe it, is Europe's busiest."

9) BEFORE A CO-ORDINATE CONJUNCTION. A co-ordinate conjunction is a conjunction (like and,' but,' although,' or however') that joins an independent clause to the main clause. An independent clause is a phrase that could form a sentence on its own. e.g. "I would like to buy you dinner, but I forgot my wallet."

10) TO INDICATE A NON-RESTRICTIVE PHRASE. Only about 1% of the population will ever master this one. A restrictive phrase is one that limits a referent. E.g. "The man who had seven cars offered me a ride." The phrase who had seven cars' limits the meaning to the man with seven cars as opposed to the man with one car or the man with two cars. In the sentence "The man, who had seven cars, offered me a ride" the phrase who had seven cars' is non-restrictive because of the commas. It is merely a way of including extra information.

11) TO MARK OFF A PARTICIPLE PHRASE. A participle is like a noun made out of a verb, such as having' which is the present participle of to have.' E.g. "Having walked more than twenty kilometers, I was very tired."

12) TO INTRODUCE A QUOTATION. E.g John said, "Commas aren't so tough."