The Comma

Although the comma (,) is a widely used punctuation mark, it can be extremely unmanageable in many cases. Even some experienced writers who use commas every day can be stumped when asked the question, "When do you use a comma?" simply because it is such a versatile punctuation mark. In this article, we'll be detailing all the possible uses of commas. If we missed something, please let us know in the chatroom or through the support form.

To start, let's look at one of the simplest and most common uses of commas. In compound sentences that combine two independent clauses, a comma must be used before the coordinating conjunction. "I saw some grapes, and I picked one." "I wanted to take a shower, but my brother was hogging the restroom."

Secondly, commas are used to separate items in a list. "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the days of the week." That final comma, the one that comes before the conjunction, is known as the serial comma or the Oxford comma. Some style guides advise not to include it, but we find that it prevents ambiguity in some sentences. "Mama, Jane and Michael just left" clearly differs in meaning from "Mama, Jane, and Michael just left."

Thirdly, commas set off nonessential information in a sentence. "Mason, my close friend, is a very talented trombone player." The phrase "my close friend" is unnecessary to the sentence; the statement would still make sense without that bit of information.

Fourthly, commas are used to separate interjections, transitions, or introductory material from the main portion of a sentence. Here are some examples: "In the morning, we went for a walk." "Wow, commas are cool!" "Wait a second, Mason plays the trumpet!" Similarly, commas are used to set aside a name when speaking directly to someone. "Mason, I'm sorry I forgot what instrument you played."

Fifthly, commas are used to separate adjectives in a list. "It was an ornate, lavish, ostentatious necklace." Be careful — if you're dealing with cumulative adjectives, that is, adjectives which build on one another and whose order cannot be reversed in the sentence, then a comma is not necessary. This may sound odd, but look at the sentence "It was a bright red coat." One would not say, "It was a red bright coat", because "bright" is describing the shade of red. Generally speaking, you can follow one simple rule: check if the sentence makes sense with only one of the adjectives present. If the adjective fails to stand alone, then a comma is not necessary after it.

Sixthly, commas are used in multiple ways in quotations. A comma should appear before any direct quote that is a complete sentence. We're not very good about following this rule — sometimes quotations can be seamlessly integrated into sentences, and certain style guides agree that introductory commas are not always necessary, but it's generally good to adhere to this regulation. Here are some examples, which I'm not putting in quotation marks because it's confusing enough. 

Example 1: She said, "I don't know why you would say that." 

Example 2: He replied, "Honestly, nor do I," and then walked away.

As seen in that last example, commas are also used to end quotations which would normally end with a period, if the sentence continues after the quotation. 

Example 3: The teacher said, "Some numbers are actually imaginary," and waited for the class's response.

Here we see an interesting discrepancy between British English and American English. In British English, the comma that concludes the quote will only appear inside the quotation marks if the quotation is a complete sentence. In American English, the comma will always be inside the quotation marks. Take a look at these examples.

American English: I told her that she should have said "whom," but she didn't care.

British English: I told her that she should have said "whom", but she didn't care.

Honestly, we at thewordiswhom.com prefer the British method, but, living in America, we have little choice but to follow its strange and nonsensical interesting and perhaps unorthodox grammar rules.

Moving on! Commas are also used to separate sections of dates and addresses. "It was January 5, 2025." "He lived at 314 Pi Street, Whomville, AZ."

Finally, commas are used in numbers to separate place values. "There were 1,000 years left until the curse would be broken." "She had 8,000,000 cookies, but she kept relentlessly clicking away nevertheless."

Whew, we made it! Commas are persnickety pieces of punctuation, and can be positively pernicious at times, but we're certain you can sort out any comma confusion after carefully considering the information in this article. In all honesty, we find that the best way to understand the usage of commas is to read prolifically and often. Your brain will begin to notice patterns subconsciously, making commas much easier to deal with. Still, in a tricky situation, we hope this article can help you out.