Commas (And All That Jazz ♫♪♫)
The dreaded commas. Who needs them? They're just more stuff to put in your writing. Just put periods in everything.
Unfortunately, that doesn't work so well. Commas actually clean up your writing and slaughter ambiguity. Plus they make your English teacher happy. :D
This is a guide to help you with commas. Not everything advised in this will work everytime, so be careful. If you read stories by writers you know have good grammar, comma placement will become easier for you.
Check out this sentence. Yes, it's a sentence, not a paragraph. Unless you or your proofreader knows exactly what you're saying and how to punctuate what you're saying, do not attempt to write sentences like this. Even then, use this structure rarely; after all, variety is the spice of life.
I watched him everyday at lunch his phantom smile when he found something his friends said amusing his coruscating eyes when he was silently mocking someone his animated facial expressions and hand gestures when he was engaged in a battle of wits.
This sentence doesn't have any commas. It's a run-on that doesn't make any sense and looks like something an inspired third-grader would write. After lunch, it looks like a random collection of (pro)nouns, adjectives, verbs, and conjunctions. If you can figure out what goes with what, hats off to you.
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Now if you put the commas back in, you can see exactly what she's watching. Let's ignore the fact that this sounds stalker-ish, shall we?
I watched him everyday at lunch, his phantom smile when he found something his friends said amusing, his coruscating eyes when he was silently mocking someone, his animated facial expressions and hand gestures when he was engaged in a battle of wits.
To get in to the technical details, it's clear that the objects of her watching are him, his smile, his eyes, and his facial expressions. The rest of it just explains when she sees it. This sentence allows you to take a comprehension break every now and then.
This sentence summarized reads: I watched him, his smile, his eyes, and his expressions. The rest of it is just details that further characterize him. To make sure you're putting the comma in the right place, simply take out all the dependent clauses (underlined; the bold one is a separate clause within. Dependent clauses are explained later.) and put commas between the nouns.
But lists aren't the only thing commas are used for. They also separate introductory clauses and phrases, participles, and appositives from other parts of the sentence.
QUICK AND EASY GRAMMAR LESSON:
Clause- group of words with subject and verb.
Phrase-group of words
Appositive-extra information
Participle- verb form used as adjective
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He had only been seduced by one girl, the mother of all of his children.
"The mother of all his children" is an appositive. Even if we didn't know she was the mother of all his children, she'd still be the same girl with no confusion as to who she was. Since we know who she is with or without the appositive, we put commas around it.
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It was magic how his neighbor Sanjana Malhotra knew exactly what to say to him.
But in this sentence, you leave the commas out because he probably has more neighbors than just Sanjana. We need the appositive to know which one of his neighbors we're talking about. You usually leave commas off for names of people and/or animals IF the names themselves are the appositive.
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Participial phrases are a bit harder, but if you know who or what is the subject of the sentence, it's easy.
A bear had attacked him, slashing his torso and back and leaving him on the brink of death.
Since the bear is doing the attacking, slashing, and leaving, we add commas because we don't have another verb. Everything after the comma describes the bear, making it kind of like an appositive because the same bear would have attacked him whether or not the bear slashed his torso and back and left him on the brink of death.
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IF AN -ING VERB ISN'T PRECEDED BY A FORM OF TO BE (AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE, BE, BEEN, BEING), IT'S NOT THE VERB OF THE SENTENCE!
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She heard footsteps trudging into the camp.
This sentence is a little different. Since the footsteps aren't the subject, trudging into the camp identifies which footsteps she heard.
She might have heard the footsteps of the children playing around the bonfire or the footsteps of the cooks as they got up to turn the meat, but the participial phrase tells us exactly which footsteps she heard.
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Footsteps, trudging into the camp, were heard by her.
Ignore the awkward construction of this sentence for just a minute, but remember to never write your sentences like this. It sounds horrendous.
Actually in this sentence, you could leave the commas or put them in, depending on what you're trying to stay. I put commas around it because it's not important where she heard the footsteps to me.
If you wish to emphasize the fact that the feet were trudging into the camp, you would leave out the commas.
Phrases and clauses. After dialog, this is where most people miss their commas. It might just be because they tend to write this kind of sentence more than any other, but these sentences don't have the commas they need nevertheless.
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After a fortnight of refusal, his charm finally wins her over.
Since there's a double prepositional phrase, we call it an introductory phrase and put commas around it, presumably to reduce confusion.
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With single prepositional phrases, it's a bit harder. Most of the time, it's a style thing. Like the first sentence in this paragraph... I personally think it should have a comma, but some people leave that comma out. Whatever makes you happy.
On the inside I wore a green Hollister T-shirt paired with jeans.
In this sentence, I didn't put the comma because I felt it was a necessary part of the sentence, not something I could take out. If I were to put a comma, it would appear that I was talking about 'my' soul inside.
Without one, the other loses half its glory.
In this I chose to add a comma because I believe you can pause there and still make sense.
Once again, this is a style thing you just have to learn. The more you read, the more intuitive comma placement will become. I promise.
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Clauses have to, have to, have to have both a subject and a verb. Introductory dependent clauses must have a comma after them, or you're not getting the cookie.
When her father opened it, he discovered a typed letter on a piece of legal paper.
The first clause(underlined) is dependent because I want to know what happens after her father opens the letter. When suggests there's something more to the sentence. A few other words that do this are although, because, since, and if.
If the clause can't stand alone and make sense, it's dependent. But if it comes after the independent clause, the clause that can stand alone, the sentence doesn't have a comma.
Her father opened it.
He discovered a typed letter on a piece of legal paper.
Both of the above clauses are independent. They can stand alone and leave me satisfied.
Her father discovered a typed letter on a piece of legal paper when he opened the letter.
Our fathers and mothers had known each other since they were children racing down the slides.
Since the dependent (underlined) comes after the independent, I don't need a comma.
Think of it this way. When your baby is in front of you in a stroller, you buckle him or her in. If he or she is behind you in one of those way cool backpack baby carrier things, you don't buckle him or her in. The comma is the buckle.
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Compound sentences are two clauses put together, either by a comma and a coordinating conjunction- for, and, not, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)- or by a semicolon.
Add her natural charm and the un-enhanced but still gorgeous body to the mix, and I was whipped.
Okay, here we're changing the subject (you and I), so we know it's two different clauses. So we put a comma with a coordinating conjunction and make it a pretty compound sentence.
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I do still kind of want him, but if I find another guy more worthy, I'll be his without hesitation.
This is classified as a compound-complex sentence, but you don't care. Why are there two commas? Because you need one for the independent clauses joined by but and one for the dependent if clause, which is underlined.
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Two subjects or verbs do not automatically make it a compound sentence. If the subjects are together and the verbs are together, there's no comma.
I could tell her the truth or just fabricate another lie.
There is no comma before the or in this sentence because there's only one stand-alone clause. I is the subject of both verbs.
The dupatta made her dress modest yet provocative, as if daring him to rip it from her.
Once again, there is no comma before the coordinating conjunction yet because modest and provocative aren't independent clauses.
Coordinating conjunctions join any two of the same 'functions': verbs, clauses, adjectives, nouns... So be careful with your commas around coordinating conjunctions, and see if you can break into two separate sentences if you take out one word.
We won't be going over dialog in this section because dialog has its own distinctive set of rules that deserves its own section.
All sentences used for illustrative purposes in this essay are from my own work. If you wish to see them in their original context, you're welcome to check out my other stories.
So, how'd I do? I tried to make it as simple as I could, but you were going to have to know some definitions, and I know the dividers aren't that great. The 'plan' for this is periods, semicolons, apostrophes, and dashes; sentence structure, capitalization, and tenses; and then dialog.
If you think I should continue, please review.