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Right or Wrong?
The students completed their math test on Monday, and the teachers handed in the
grades on Thursday.
Right! The above sentence is composed of two independent clauses, each informing
about two different people who did different things. A comma is needed before the
coordinating conjunction, even though many English writers do not use a comma in
such a case.
Right or wrong?
Last week's test says my best friend was the hardest ever.
It Depends! In the above example sentence my best friend is probably not a part of the
main sentence Last week's test was the hardest ever and should be separated with
commas. Without commas, the reader may get confused and think that the test "says"
that the friend was the hardest, while it is the test that was the hardest. Says my best
friend serves as a comment, known as a parenthetical element. The
correct punctuation would therefore be:
Last week's test, says my best friend, was the hardest ever.
Right or wrong?
Dan's lifelong project is to be able to speak American English French German and
Mandarin Chinese.
Wrong! In the above example sentence the language names come in a series whose
elements should be separated with commas. In addition, not having a comma between
"American" and "English" may make readers think that there is an independent
language called "American," whereas it is considered only as an English language
variety; or conclude that there is a French variety of German. The correct punctuation
would therefore be:
Dan's lifelong project is to be able to speak American English, French, German, and
Mandarin Chinese.
2. The punctuation mark that comes before the quote is left outside the opening
quotation mark. The punctuation mark that comes after the quote is put inside the
closing quotation marks. The quote itself starts with a capital letter. See the following
examples for different positions of the introductory words.
The singer Madonna said, "We are living in a material world."
[introductory words before the quote]
"We are living," said the singer Madonna, "in a material world."
[introductory words within the quote]
The singer Madonna said, "We are living in a material world," and left the stage.
[introductory and non quote words before and after the quote]
1. A general stylistic convention in writing is that the more you can say in less words,
the more elegant and polished the writing is. Elliptical constructions which omit words
are one way of achieving such brevity in writing.
[ellipsis]
[ellipsis]
In spring Madonna's fans sent her 1,000 letters; in summer, 3,000; and in the fall, none.
[ellipsis of they sent her, notice the semi-colons dividing between the three independent
clauses that contain commas]
1. Use a comma to separate the date from the year, when written in American style.
December 30, 1975 [12.30.75 - US style]
2. Do not use a comma to separate any element of the date, when written in British style
(also common around the world and in the U.S. army.)
30th of December 1975 [30.12.75 - UK style]
Note: As confusion may arise from having two styles of dates, you had better not write
dates using numbers alone. Instead, write the month's name as a word and the date
and year as numbers.
4. In a full sentence, use a comma on both sides of the year in a full date.
Many people were waiting on December 30, 1975, to celebrate the birth of the writer of
this punctuation guide.
5. Do not use a comma when writing only two date elements, namely, the month and
the year, the month and the day, or the season and the year.
1. Use a comma as a thousands separator after every three digits in a number, counting
from right to left.
87,950 people arrived to demonstrate in London against the government's decision.
1,850,400 signatures were collected nationwide in support of the protest.
2. A comma is optional with most four-digit numbers. Whatever option you choose,
remember to be consistent in your writing.
3. Never use a comma in a four-digit year. Use a comma if the year has more than 4
digits.
In 1992 German zoologists discovered rare animal fossils from 35,000 BC.
9. Use a comma to separate two numbers that lie next to each other in a text.
In 1994, 3 of Madonna's songs reached the top ten in the music charts.
1. Use a comma to separate people's names and their academic degrees. Use a
comma after the degree if other words follow it.
Dan Smith, MD, will speak after Rosanne Smith, PhD.
2. Do not use a comma when an indicator of birth order or succession follows a name.
Marthin Luther King Jr. Henry VIII.
3. Use a comma if you write a person's last name before the first name.
Smith, Dan, MD, will speak second.
4. Use a comma to separate between two place names in sequence, e.g. city and
county/state/country. Add another comma after the place name if more words follow.
Dan Smith, MD, is coming from Houston, Texas, to speak at the conference.
5. When a complete address is part of a sentence, use a comma to separate all the
items, except the county/state/country and the zip code.
Dan wrote to Clara Clausowitz, 1001 Rule Road, Commaville, England ETS432, for
more information about comma usage in English.
6. Use a comma for the opening of an informal letter. Some instructors suggest a colon
in formal business letters.
Dear Dave, [friendly, informal] Dear Mrs. Clausowitz: [business, formal]
7. Use a comma for the closing words of any letter, and a point for the closing sentence
that precedes it.
Hope to hear from you soon. [closing sentence]
Yours, or Love, [informal closing words]
sincerely, or Best regards, [formal closing word