The SIX Basic Comma Rules

By: Miss Castle

Comma Rule #1

The Serial…Comma, not Killer… Place a comma between items in a

series as in the example below.

Example: I have my laptop, pens, pencils, and iPod in my backpack.

Comma Rule #2

The Coordinating Conjunction Comma... Place a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet. FANBOYS

Example: The best place to take a vacation is Chicago, but the best place to take a honeymoon is Hawaii.

Comma Rule #3

The Introductory Word or Phrase comma… Always place a comma after an

introductory word or phrase. See below.

Example: John, what are you doing in my car?

ORAs I walked down the street, I ran into a

friend I hadn’t seen in years.

Comma Rule #4

The Interrupting Word/Phrase Comma… Always place a comma before and after

any word or phrase that can be removed from the sentence and still make sense.

Example: John, the teacher, wrote his name on the board.

ORI ran down the street, though I didn’t have

to, and fell down and hurt my crown.

Comma Rule #5

The Concluding Word/Phrase Comma… Always place a comma before any word or

phrase that is just tagged on at the end of the sentence. See below.

Example: Is that you in the corner, John? OR

I hadn’t seen John in years, though that didn’t make much difference in our friendship.

Comma Rule #6

The Catch-all Comma…use it… to separate numbers more than four

digits long (1,000,000), to separate city from state, (Paris,

Texas), to separate month & year (August 15,

1980), before and after titles (James Smith,

M.D., is no longer working here.), or to prevent confusion (To err is

human; to forgive, divine.)