“I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.”
- Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet
Do you find yourself struggling over that troublesome little punctuation mark tenderly referred to as the comma? If you do, you are not alone. The overuse of commas is actually one of the most common grammatical mistakes. Underusing them is a common mistake, too. Both the under use and overuse of commas creates a problem because commas are at the heart of providing meaning to your words. They break up confusing phrases, notate the separation of words in a list and do so much more. The following guides show you how to master the art of using commas correctly.
Part 1: Introductory Elements
Part 2: Independent Clauses and Coordinating Conjunctions
Part 3: Serial Comma
Part 4: Nonessential Elements
Part 5: Coordinate Adjectives
Part 6: Free Modifiers
Part 7: Pauses, Shifts and Contrasted Coordinate Elements
Part 8: Clarity
Part 9: Direct Addresses
Part 10: Locations, Dates and Titles
Part 11: Misuse of Commas