How To Use Commas List
Commas can be a particularly tricky punctuation mark.
How to use commas list. Oxford commas are also known as serial or harvard commas. A comma is a form of punctuation that indicates a pause in a sentence and separates items in a list. When the last comma in a series comes before and or or after daughter in law in the above example it is known as the oxford comma most newspapers and magazines drop the oxford comma in a simple series apparently. Punctuation has two main roles to play in the presentation of lists of items. Comma before and in lists.
Place a comma between each item in the list unless you are writing in associated press style. You usually put a comma before and when it s connecting two independent clauses. This page explains when to use commas in lists has lots of examples and includes an interactive exercise. When writing a list you should put a comma between each item except for the last item where you use and. When you have a list that contains more than two elements use commas to separate them.
The school has a vegetable garden in which the children grow cabbages onions potatoes and carrots. The usual way of doing this is to place a comma after each item in the list. To separate the items in a list. Use commas when writing a list of at least three words phrases or clauses in a sentence. Commas should be used before and when joining two independent clauses or when compiling a list.
When correcting a comma splice that is when joining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction put the comma before and. Commas are used to separate list items. How to use punctuation in lists. Period question mark exclamation point comma semicolon colon dash hyphen parentheses brackets braces. It s almost always optional to put a comma before and in a list.
With two list items don t use a comma. There are some cases where you know you should use a comma such as when separating items in a list but there are other times when you might be unsure whether or not a comma is needed. Use commas to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items. Commas can separate adjectives offset nonessential phrases and introduce direct quotations. In that case you would not place a comma before the and that joins the final two items.