CHAPTER

THE PROBLEMS

So, you’ve gotten an essay back, say, and in these sentences your instructor has either added commas, or circled them and marked them with a “C”:

• They featured several new ice-cream flavors like blackthorn muskmelon prickly pear peanut butter and pickle as well as others.
• Boudreau is from Louisiana, he loves Cajun music.
• When Wilhelmina burst into the drawing room the quail quickly sought refuge under the divan.
• On August 8 1967 Clovis took a trip to Reykjavik Iceland to spend a little time on its sunny shores.
• This used refrigerator a gift from the landlady is as beastly green as the landlady herself.

How can one little punctuation mark cause so much grief?  And yet it does:  The comma is the writer’s bane.  Part of the problem is that the comma, while modest in appearance, is mighty in its effects.  Consider the difference between these two sentences:

• The mansion which was located over an old phosphorus mine glowed at night.
• The mansion, which was located over an old phosphorus mine, glowed at night.

A subtle but significant difference shows itself between these two sentences.  The first sentences, without the commas, indicates that the clause “which was located over an old phosphorus mine” is essential or restrictive:  It was this mansion – versus, say, the mansion which was over the uranium mine and which glowed during the day, too – and none other that the sentence indicates.  The implication here is that more than one mansion is in question, and the sentence is pointing us to a particular one.

In the second sentence, the commas tell us that the information in the clause is non-essential or non-restrictive:  It’s been added for extra clarification.  The implication here is that one and only one mansion is in question. The information in the clause is nice, but not necessary; in fact, we could leave it out entirely and still have the gist of the sentence.  Notice how the same is not true for the first sentence:  if we leave out the clause, we don’t know which of the mansions the sentence indicates.

Thus, a real problem with commas is how to learn how they work.  On the one hand is the practice of assigning a different rule for each comma use; the result is an unwieldy number of rules – and an unwieldy number of explanations, restrictions, and exceptions.  On the other hand is the practice best expressed by a grammar teacher that one of us had years and years ago:  “A comma indicates a breath group; you use one whenever you pause to breathe when reading.”  The result here is a wildly varying use of commas depending upon lung capacity!

As has been our aim all along with grammar, we hope to demystify the use of the comma by indicating the “system” of its use through a handful of general principles.

WHAT COMMAS ARE AND HOW THEY WORK

The following five rules should help you to make wise commas choices in the majority of instances that you need one (or more).

1. Series: Use commas to separate three or more items in a series.

• They like quinces, kiwis, and persimmons. (three items, two commas)
• The quick brown fox jumped across the stream, into the yard, along the house, onto the porch, and at last over the lazy dog. (five items, four commas)

You will end up with one less comma than items in the series.

2. Compound Sentences: Use a commas before the coordinating conjunction that links the independent clauses.

• The crater of Mt. Vesuvius isn’t just a nice place to visit, but I would actually want to live there.
• Muskrats enjoy our moat, for they expert swimmers.

Remember that the coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so, and that independent clauses must have both a subject and a verb.  (If you’d like to know more about sentence types, see the chapter on Sentences.)

3. Introductory Subordinate Clauses: Use a comma to set off an introductory subordinate clause in a complex sentence.

• Because she travels frequently, my cousin Melvina has a friend water the Venus flytraps.

Remember that subordinating conjunctions are words like although, because, if, since, whenever, etc.

4. Dates and addresses: Use a comma to separate out each element in dates and addresses.

• He was born on October 31,
• They live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Gruesomeville, New Jersey.

5. Introducers and interrupters: Use commas to separate from the rest of a sentence nouns and phrases that begin or break up the sentence.

• Tired but undaunted, the second parlor maid shined one more sconce.
• I really wish, Hilda, that you wouldn’t sing quite so loudly.

THE SOLUTIONS

By now you probably have a sense of what’s not quite right about our sample sentences at the beginning of the chapter:

• Problem: They featured several new ice-cream flavors like blackthorn muskmelon prickly pear peanut butter and pickle as well as others.
• Solution: They featured several new ice-cream flavors like blackthorn, muskmelon, prickly pear, peanut butter and pickle, as well as others.

Five items, four commas – easy.  However, among some well established writers it’s the custom not to separate out the last element in a series.  If you don’t write “kiwis, and persimmons” they argue, then it follows that you should write “quinces, kiwis and persimmons.”

However, we don’t recommend this practice for a number of reasons.  For one, our rule allows you to remember that you always have one fewer commas than items in the series:  three items, two commas; 47 items, 46 commas.  Another reason to use a comma to separate out each element of series has to do with clarity.  Consider the following two sentences:

• They featured several new ice-cream flavors like blackthorn, muskmelon, prickly pear, peanut butter and pickle, as well as others.
• They featured several new ice-cream flavors like blackthorn, muskmelon, prickly pear, peanut butter, and pickle, as well as others.

Do you see the difference here?  Let’s assume that you want to indicate that there are two separate flavors:  peanut butter, on the one hand, and pickle, on the other.  Leaving out that extra comma makes it look as though the flavor is “peanut butter and pickle” – which may not be what you intended at all.  In other words, when you use one less comma than items in a series, you’ll always be correct.

What about this one?

• Problem: Boudreau is from Louisiana, he loves Cajun music.

The problem here is that commas, to build upon our analogy below, act as low retaining walls:  While they’re sufficient to keep sentence parts (individual words, phrase, dependent clauses) apart, they’re not “high” enough to keep apart entire sentences.  (This type of error is so common that it has its own name:  a comma splice, and you can learn more about them – and how to correct them – in the chapter on sentence boundaries.)  How can you repair this error?  Well, you have a number of options.  First, you can just add an appropriate coordinating conjunction before the comma:

• Solution 01 :               Boudreau is from Louisiana, and he loves Cajun music.

A second, maybe more sophisticated, solution is to change one of the independent clauses into a subordinate clause:

• Solution 02: Because Boudreau is from Louisiana, he loves Cajun music.

And a third – both easy, like the first, and sophisticated, like the second, is to use a semicolon:

• Solution 03: Boudreau is from Louisiana; he loves Cajun music.

Whichever your solution, remember that a comma alone isn’t enough to separate two independent clauses.

• Problem: When Wilhelmina burst into the drawing room the quail quickly sought refuge under the divan.
• Solution: When Wilhelmina burst into the drawing room, the quail quickly sought refuge under the divan.

Our third rule, above, takes care of this, yes?  We have an introductory subordinate clause.  Nevertheless, while you do use a comma with an introductory subordinate clause, you don’t – counter-intuitively, we admit – use it when the subordinate clause follows the main clause:

• The quail quickly sought refuge under the divan when Wilhelmina burst into the drawing room.

And then we have

• Problem: On August 8 1967 Clovis took a trip to Reykjavik Iceland to spend a little time on its sunny shores.
• Solution: On August 8, 1967, Clovis took a trip to Reykjavik, Iceland, to spend a little time on its sunny shores.

Remember that each element of a date or an address needs to be separated out with commas; this includes a date or address that appears in the middle of a sentence.  In addresses, however, you don’t separate out the ZIP code with commas:

• They live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Gruesomeville, New Jersey 08701

And last we have

• Problem: This used refrigerator a gift from the landlady is as beastly green as the landlady herself.
• Solution: This used refrigerator, a gift from the landlady, is as beastly green as the landlady herself.

The phrase “a gift from the landlady” clearly “interrupts” the sentence and adds information; thus we set the phrase off with commas.

ANALOGY

The comma is one of the subtlest marks of punctuation.  It never indicates a complete separation of one idea from another, as the 15-foot electrified fence at the edge of the tiger habitat at the zoo might do. Instead, the comma functions as a sort of low retaining wall, keeping some ideas in and some out of an enclosed area. Perhaps it’s this subtlety of function that makes most speakers and writers of English quite casual about using commas. Since commas are not used for extreme purposes, their impact is not considered crucial.

Yet, look at what commas do, in their subtle way, with or without our awareness of their function. Look at the five uses of commas enumerated in this chapter and see exactly what they do to clarify the messages we create. Also look at the lack of clarity that results when they are used or omitted improperly!

One of the comma rules we explore in this chapter is the separation of introducers and interrupters from the main part of the sentence. Look at the following two sentences, identical in words but differently punctuated:

• My only sister who adores gardening has entered a Venus flytrap in the contest.
• My only sister, who adores gardening, has entered a Venus flytrap in the contest.

What a difference the commas make. In the first sentence the writer has multiple sisters, only one of whom is a gardener. In the second sentence the writer has only one sister.  The separation of the “interrupter clause” makes the difference. By placing a low retaining wall around that clause in the second sentence, we set it off as non-essential but interesting information.  The meaning definitely changes.

Lest you think this business of comma use is trivial and not worth your time, know this:  We have all learned our language, especially the written word, from reading books and other publications that are for the most part correct in their use of punctuation.  When your eyes read a sentence that is correctly punctuated, your mind has a much higher chance of interpreting that sentence in the way it was intended. You make automatic translations, usually correctly, based on the subtle placement of commas.  So will your readers.  You have to be as competent in your use of commas as any professional publisher if you want your meanings to be conveyed accurately.  We should take commas and their subtle power seriously!

LANGUAGE IN FLUX

Grammar – language in general – are subject to change as a result of use.  We’ve noticed a growing tendency (based, we suspect, on most writers’ incomplete understanding of them) in recent writing to avoid “overusing” commas.  Look at these sentences:

• Come in, and sit down!
• My cousin, Dorothea, is a chimney sweep.

Nowadays it’s more common to see

• Come in and sit down!
• My cousin Dorothea is a chimney sweep.

Even though our rule says that we need a comma between the independent clauses of a compound sentence, you’ll see that comma less and less often when the two clauses are short and contain commands (that is, verbs in the imperative mood).  Again, our rule would indicate that “Dorothea” be set off as in “interrupter” (assuming that Dorothea is being spoken about and not spoken to) – but you’ll find in sentences such as these, in which a noun or pronoun is immediately followed by a noun describing it (the second standing, as we grammarians say, in apposition to the first), that the commas are often omitted.

We doubt that anyone has ever been done to death by too many commas, but we’ve seen them pretty nearly kill prose.  As we’ve been urging throughout this chapter, be conscientious about commas!

THE BASICS

• WHAT IS IT? Commas act a subtle but significant boundaries between sentence elements.
• WHEN DO YOU USE IT? You use commas – and should use them correctly – every time you write.
• WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? There are five rules for commas use:

1. series: Use commas to separate three or more items in a series.
2. compound sentences: Use a commas before the coordinating conjunction that links the independent clauses.
3. introductory subordinate clauses: Use a comma to set off an introductory subordinate clause in a complex sentence.
4. dates and addresses: Use a comma to separate out each element in dates and addresses.
5. introducers and interrupters: Use commas to separate from the rest of a sentence nouns and phrases that begin or break up the sentence.

EXERCISE

Add commas to the following sentences.  In the blank next to each sentence write the rule that you used to determine that the sentence needed a comma.  Not all these sentences will need commas.

1. He likes his new unicycle but he’s afraid to ride it in traffic. ____________________
2. Frightened and shy the little troll peeked around the corner. ____________________
3. You may leave your snow globes here or you can take them with you. ____________________
4. In the alcove someone is waiting for you Zygmunt who just won’t leave. ____________________
5. She dressed in her finest gown and went off to fix the leaky faucet. ____________________
6. Last summer Laurice resided at Darksum Place1414 Blackbrook Road Murkee Alabama. ____________________
7. After February 20 1994 all requests for headstone polish had to be sent directly to the main office. ____________________
8. Pet the python gently while he is getting to know trust and like you. ____________________
9. The capes were easy to wash but the fans quite difficult. ____________________
10. Hunting nightcrawlers is fun when you look at it as a game a puzzle or a challenge. ____________________

QUIZ

Commas Quiz and Key