From wordgenius.com
Do commas even have rules?
April 08, 2019 | 3 min read
Commas are one
of the most commonly used punctuation tools. Sadly, they are also one of the
most misused. You may come across writing littered with stray commas or
you may encounter writers who who simply omit the punctuation, creating wildly
confusing sentences that have no breaks in sight.
You may have
been taught to use a comma when the reader would naturally pause or need to
take a breath. Unfortunately, in the rules of grammar it's not quite that
simple.
There is in
fact an explicit set of grammar rules that governs the use of commas. But those
rules can vary from style guide to style guide, creating an even more confusing
mess for many writers. So we're here to break down some of the more useful
rules in an attempt to end the plight of the comma.
Rule number 1: Lists.
Let’s start
with an easy one. Commas are used when writing lists of three or more items.
Example 1: I’m
going to the store to buy flour, sugar, eggs, and jellybeans so I can make a
jellybean cake.
Sound simple?
Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. That last comma in the series (the
one after the word "eggs") is called the Oxford, or serial, comma,
and it's optional depending on who you ask.
Some style
guides, like Chicago, include the comma. But you'll find other style guides
like AP Style (used primarily in journalism) eschew this rule, leaving out that
final comma and writing the sentence as such: I’m going to the store to buy
flour, sugar, eggs and jellybeans so I can make a jellybean cake.
If you're just
typing an email to a colleague or posting on a personal blog, you can decide
for yourself whether you want to include the comma or not. But if you're
publishing in a professional setting, do a little research on which style guide
fits your audience.
Rule number 2: Linking independent clauses.
Independent
clauses are fully-formed ideas that could stand alone as sentences. When they
are joined together with a conjunction (and, or, but, etc.), they need a comma.
Example 2 (the
two independent clauses are bolded): I baked a jellybean cake,
and it tasted better than I could have imagined.
In this case,
the two independent clauses could each be its own sentence. But because they
are combined, and linked by the word "and", they need a comma to
separate them.
Rule number 3: Dependent clauses.
Dependent
clauses feature a subject and a verb, but aren’t complete sentences on their
own. They tend to add a little contextual spice to an otherwise bland
statement. If your sentence attaches a dependent clause to its independent
counterpart, the two are joined with a comma.
Example 3 (the
dependent clause is bolded): When I have a bad day, I comfort
myself with a slice of jellybean cake.
Rule number 4: Non-essential descriptions.
Captivating
writing often adds further details to bring a sentence to life. But if you can
remove the phrase without it changing the sentence, it's considered non-essential.
No matter where they appear in the sentence, these descriptive, words or
phrases need to be shielded with commas.
Example 4 (the
non-essential phrase is bolded): The jellybean cake, sweet and chewy,
was the perfect dessert.
Rule number 5: Quotations.
When someone is
speaking or being quoted, a comma needs to precede or follow the speech.
Depending on the order of the sentence, the comma can be inside or outside of
the quotation marks.
Example 5: “This
jellybean cake is simply sublime,” gushed the Michelin-starred chef.
The waitress
said, "I agree, it was truly delicious."
Rule number 6: Introductory elements.
Introducing a
sentence with an adverb (ex. unfortunately, interestingly), or joining words
and phrases (ex. on the other hand, furthermore), require a comma.
Example 6: Unsurprisingly,
jellybean cake is about to take the world by storm.
Rule number 7: Addresses
Streets,
cities, states, and countries need to be separated with commas when writing
addresses.
Example 7: The
Jellybean Cake Corporation international headquarters are located at 123 Cake
St, Candyland, FL, USA.
Rule number 8: Dates
Like addresses,
the day, month and year in a date need to be punctuated with commas.
Example 8: Legend
has it, the concept of the jellybean cake was conceived on Thursday, April 20,
1574, by Spanish explorers.
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Catfishing
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
Catfishing is a type of deceptive activity where a person creates a
sock puppet
social networking
presence, or fake identity on a social network account,
usually targeting a specific victim for deception.
Catfishing is
often employed for romance scams on
dating websites. Catfishing may be used for financial gain, to compromise a
victim in some way, or simply as a form of trolling or wish fulfillment.
Catfishing
media has been produced, often centering around victims who wish to identify
their catfisher
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