Comma

This lesson is on.

Commerce

and commerce are used to join elements of a sentence.

When reading we insert a short pause for the comma as I did just then there are differences between UK and US rules for common use.

parts of the sentence that we join can be introductory parts clauses or list items and also separate quoted and unquote text commas are also used as a separator for large numbers and they separate non-essential clauses from the main sentence commas are used in tag questions and commerce separate a direct address from the rest of the sentence commas are also used to write dates more clearly and please note that the spelling is comma c o m m a comma with one M is something completely different.

There are differences between UK and US rules in the UK.

There is no comma before the end or at the end of a list.

In the US that is a comma there.

Now there is a thing called the Oxford comma which is a specialized version of this so please see that section for more information.

So for example in the UK we would say the fruit bowl contain apples comma bananas and pears then the US they would write the fruit bowl contain apples comma bananas comma and pears and commas are used to join elements of a sentence and these can be introductory parts clauses or a list of items.

if you look at the introductory phrase or word which sort of acts as like a scene setter so we can say trembling with fear the children open the cellar door there is trembling with fear sort of sets the scene for how the children were before they opened the door.

Or one fine afternoon they set off for a picnic again setting the scene for them going on a picnic and undeterred they left work early again explain a little bit what their frame of mind was when they left work suddenly it started to snow it was fine before we didn’t think it was snow and suddenly it did and commas are used to join clauses of a sentence we had dinner did the dishes and went out dancing course you could if you wanted to make three sentences out of this we had dinner full stop we did the dishes full stop we went out dancing but this would be very strange way of writing it and it’s much more natural to write it as we have here next year I want to take my driving test start a new job and get married so obviously ambitious today I wash the dishes clean the house and got dinner ready we can join the list of items and the items can be Verbs Adverbs nouns or adjective and will occur.

An example of each so.

For verbs the acrobat jumped twisted turned and tumbled and commerce between individual items or for adverbs go quietly quickly and directly or for nouns.

This recipe requires chicken rice peppers and creme.

And lastly for adjectives I’ll have a pint of delicious cool tasty dark beer and in each of these the list item has been separated by commas and you will have noticed we’ve used the UK version here without a comma before the end at the end.

Commerce separate quoted in unquote.

Text please see the lesson on quotation marks for more information my doctor told me I have good news for you that the narrator is the my doctor told me and the direct quote of the words the doctor said I have good news for you now separated by a comma or you can put the quote First I have good news for you comma my doctor told me of course you can put the narrator part in the middle and split the quote I have comma my doctor told me comma.

Good news for you.

All three perfectly valid and are used all the time and commerce can be used as a separator for large numbers as can be tricky as in some languages a comma is used as a decimal point and the decimal point is used as a thousand separator.

So please be careful if you are a native speaker of one of those languages in English we use the comma or a space to saturate the thousands sounds in one thousand two hundred and thirty four or six million three hundred seventy eight thousand one hundred thirty four.

Now you may be thinking well that’s pretty trivial why do we need this the numbers are quite small but if we get something like this is quite useful to know.

How to split it up into the thousands millions billions trillions etc.

I won’t speak that no

commas also separate non restrictive clauses from the main sentence and we know it’s a non restrictive clause or non-essential clause because the information between the commerce is additional and if we were to leave this information out the sentence would still make sense.

My friend John plays drums in a band from left out the bit in the middle.

It would read my friend plays drums in a band which is quite good.

My brother who lives in Rome has two children and if we left the the part in the middle out between the commerce it was a.

My brother has two children.

now hears the same sentence without the commas.

My brother who lives in Rome has two children and in this particular case I could maybe have more than one brother and I mean the one who lives in Rome not the one who lives in Paris and so in this case the information is important to the context.

And so there are no commas

and commas separate dependent and independent clauses so if the sentence starts with an independent clause no comma is needed as in since you all here comma we might as well start if we switch it around we might as well start since you will hear there’s no comma when Bob gets here comma we will make a move if we switch it around we will make a move.

When Bob gets here.

and commerce also used in tag questions they separate the statement part from the tag part this is a tag question isn’t it.

And this is a tag question is the statement part and isn’t it is the tag part they’re separated by a comma as we see you’ll be home on time won’t you.

Again you’ll be home on time is the statement tag part.

Won’t you he hasn’t put his holiday yet.

Has he this case a statement is a negative statement.

He hasn’t booked his holiday yet and the tag is the positive component for that.

Has he again separated by a comma dreadful weather today isn’t it again.

The two separated by a comma

comma separated direct address from the rest of the sentence Paul.

Get out of bed.

Paul is being directly addressed here.

So Paul comma.

Get out of bed or if the direct addresses in the middle of the sentence are you Paul ever going to get up.

How are you feeling today Susie and Susie Susie’s being directly addressed with this question.

So we separated with a comma but because as at the end of the sentence we don’t have a second comma the sentence is finished with a question mark.

We don’t have how we feel today comma Susie comma question mark the second commerce not required and commas are also used to write dates more clearly and there are many many different formats and ways you can write a date and none is better than the other.

So we’ll have a look at some examples to show that you need a comma to separate numbers that are next to each other or words that are next to each other but you don’t use them for numbers and words next to each other on March 14th 1879.

Albert Einstein was born so we have two commas here on March the 14th 1879 so we have two numbers next to each other namely the 14 and the 1879 they are separated by a comma the second comma is because the on March 14 1879 acts as an introductory phrase which is separated by a comma from the rest of the sentence or we can write.

Albert Einstein was born on March 14 1879 and again we have a comma between the 14 the day and the year or if we write it like this which is a more typically European format.

The party is on Monday January 7th 2019.

So between Monday and January they’re both words we have a comma between the seven and the 2019.

They’re both numbers there’s a comma but there isn’t one between the January and the seven or if we write it this way.

The party was on 7th January 2019 have no word no no commas needed at all.