English Tutoring Lab Handouts

Grammar and Proofreading Tips

A guide to punctuation |Commas, the six rules | Example of a "Works Cited" page |MLA citations | Parallel structure | Parts of speech--quick reference guide | Possessive pronouns and contractions | Proofreading your paper | Using quotations in writing about literature

Writing>How to improve your writing>Commas: The Six Rules

Commas, The Six Rules

1. Put a comma before and, but, or, for, nor, so, yet when they connect two complete sentences.

I hate Mondays, but I love Fridays.

I hate Mondays but love Fridays.

2. Put a comma between each item in a series.

He likes cake, ice cream, and turnips.

He ate dinner, felt sick, and looked for the Pepto-Bismol.

Some words "go together" and don't need commas:  dear little old lady; dilapidated old building.

Dates and addresses in sentences are like lists:

Olive lives at 213 Pimento Drive, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

She was born January 23, 1923.

3. Put a comma after an introductory expression that does not flow smoothly into the sentence--a word, group of words, or dependent clause.

No, I don't want any.

Rushing to the door, she dropped the pizza.

When she picked it up, it had unspeakable grime on it.

4. Put commas around the name of a person spoken to.

What I mean, Reginald, is that you're in the dog house.

5. Put commas around an expression that interrupts the flow of a sentence (like however, finally, therefore, on the other hand, of course, by the way, I think, etc.  Remember that words like however and therefore, when they separate two complete sentences, need; and,).

We got our binoculars, however, and went outside.

We got our binoculars; however, we couldn't see the comet.

She thought, of course, that Bruce Willis was great.

6. Put commas around nonessential material--material that the sentence could survive without.

Gladys, who loves to ice skate, broke her toe.

Working, a book by Studs Terkel, is like a collage.

The house, which we painted last week, is for sale.

(We can tell which house it is without knowing it's the newly painted   one.)

The house that we painted last week is for sale.  (We won't know which house it is unless we know it's the newly painted one.)

updated 5/9/02