More errors come from having too many commas than from having too few. Here are five places you need them.
When one of these words connects two sentences, put a comma before it.
The lead actor was on crutches, but the show went on.
Gina intended to win the weight-lifting pageant, and that's
exactly what she did.The house didn't sell at $300,000, so they lowered the
price.
However, don't automatically stick in a comma just because a sentence is long.
No one at the paint factory could have guessed that the
boss would one day be a famous writer.
Use commas between parts of a series of three or more.
In one month the game farm saved the lives of a red fox, a
great-horned owl, and a black bear cub.Greg climbed the ladder, marched to the end of the
diving board, took a big spring, and came down in a
belly bust.In the class sat a bearded man, a police officer, a woman
eating a sandwich, and a parakeet.
(Without the last comma, what happens to the parakeet?) Don't use a comma in a pair.
-38-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Shortcuts for the Student Writer.
Contributors: Jay Silverman - Author, Elaine Hughes - Author, Diana Roberts Wienbroer - Author.
Publisher: McGraw-Hill.
Place of publication: New York.
Publication year: 2005.
Page number: 38.
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