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Jul 1, 2023 · But fear not! Below, you’ll find guidance for the trickiest comma questions. What is a comma? While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller break. Some writers think of a comma as a soft pause—a punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a sentence.
Learn how to use commas correctly in English with this comprehensive guide. Find out when to use commas in series, adjectives, clauses, appositives, dates, addresses, and more.
A comma is “the symbol ‘,’ used in writing to separate parts of a sentence showing a slight pause, or to separate the single things in a list”, according to the Cambridge Dictionary. When and When Not to Use a Comma?
- Commas to introduce a sentence. If you introduce a sentence with a transition word (e.g., however, hence, indeed, furthermore), follow it with a comma. However the model is not always accurate.
- Dependent vs. independent clauses. A clause is a group of words that contains at least a subject and a verb. Sentences are often made up of several clauses.
- Commas in compound sentences. A compound sentence contains more than one independent clause. The clauses can be joined by a semicolon, a colon, or a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
- Avoid the comma splice. Two independent clauses should never be joined by a comma alone. This error is called a comma splice. Model 1 was selected, it returns more accurate results.
Jun 6, 2016 · Courses on Khan Academy are always 100% free. Start practicing—and saving your progress—now: David and Paige introduce you to the superhero of the punctuation world: the comma! Practice this ...
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1. Use a comma between items in a series or list. In a sentence, the last two items usually do not need a comma between them as they are separated by "and". However, if one or both of the last two items are long, a comma may be useful. coffee, tea, sugar, milk, eggs, butter, salt.
noun. the sign (,), a mark of punctuation used for indicating a division in a sentence, as in setting off a word, phrase, or clause, especially when such a division is accompanied by a slight pause or is to be noted in order to give order to the sequential elements of the sentence.