Using Commas in English Statements

The sample sentences were copied from https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/english_as_a_second_language/esl_students/punctuation/commas.html on September 16, 2022.

(1) Use commas after a time phrase that begins a sentence.

Example: Last year, I did not have a driver’s license.

"Last year," is a time phrase.

(2) Use commas, after the name of the person you are addressing. Often the name is not included because you are looking at the person you are speaking to or there are only two people in the conversation, you and the other person. Using someone's name is not necessary, however we have been told that people like hearing their name, that people are more alert and focused when they hear their name.

Sanjay, your work this quarter has been outstanding.

(3) Use commas as you would use parentheses.

Example: The test, a series of one hundred true-false questions, will be administered on the fifteenth of the month.

(4) Use commas between items in a list of adjectives in a sentence.

Example: That sticky, smelly, yellow substance coming out of the wall might be a health hazard.

(5) Use commas between a list of nouns that appears inside of a sentence.

Example: You will need to order cement bags, lumber, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, and glue.

(7) Use commas in front of coordinating conjunctions that are being used to glue two independent clause together to form a single sentence. FANBOYS

Example: The project was tedious, but the district supervisor said it was vital.

Explanation and examples below are directly from the link referenced at the beginning of this post.

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(8) Commas are also used to separate quoted material from text you have written yourself:

Example: Phillip announced to the audience, “I want you to begin your research as soon as you leave the meeting.”

(9) Finally, commas are used in the American style of writing calendar dates, and before a series of three digits in longer numbers (excluding years and decimals):

Example: The national debt was calculated to be $9,571,475,766,176.63 at 5:52 p.m. on August 6, 2008.

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