Day 1: The Comma: A Major Player
Question
What is the comma used for?
Prerequisites
Do you remeber sentence kinds which we revised in unit one? Do you know what are sentence types? It is important to differentiate between sentence types and sentence kinds.
Go through the following powerpoint presentation [1]
Activity 1
How to use the comma? The comma is used very frequently and used incorrectly almost as frequently. There are, in fact, four distinct uses of the comma:
A listing comma
is used as a kind of substitute for the word 'and' or sometimes for the word 'or' in a list when three or more words, phrases or even complete sentences are joined by the word 'and' or 'or'.
Example: The colours in the Union Jack flag are red, white and blue.
A joining comma
is only slightly different from a listing comma and is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence, when it must be used by one of the connecting words 'and', 'or', 'nor', 'but', 'while', 'so' and 'yet'
Example: I could tell you the truth, but I will not.
The gapping comma
is used to show that one or more words have been left out when the missing words would simply repeat the words already used in the same sentence.
Example: Some English writers use punctuation correctly; others, not.
The bracketing comma
always comes as a pair and is used to mark off a weak interruption of a sentence - that is, an interruption which does not disturb the smooth flow of the sentence and could be removed and still leave the sentence complete and making good sense.
Example: This web site, I would suggest, contains much useful information and advice.
Note 1: One bracketing comma will suffice if the weak interruption comes at the beginning or the end of the sentence.
Example: Although often wet, Britain has lots of sunshine. as opposed to Britain, although often wet, has lots of sunshine.
Note 2: The main purpose of punctuation is to aid understanding; a subsidiary purpose is to aid flow. Use joining commas and pairing commas where this aids understanding and/or flow. As a general rule, the longer the sentence or the more complex the sentence, the greater the need for commas.
Note 3: When in doubt over where to use a comma, try reading the sentence out loud and, generally speaking, commas should be used where you pause for clarification or breath.
Note 4: There is some controversy over use of something called the serial or Oxford comma which is the last comma in this example: The colours in the Union Jack flag are red, white, and blue. Generally the serial comma is not used in Britain where it is regarded as unnecessary, but it is commonly used in the United States where it is thought helpful. My preference is to use a listing comma before 'and' or 'or' only when it is necessary to make the meaning clear.
Practice:
Look at the picture above, what type of commas is used? ...
This is a listing comma. If you had the correct answer, do the following activity. If you didn't, don't worry. Just go through the rule one more time.
Now, Go through two pages of your favourite book, story or article and notice the commas. Identify what type of commas is used for each sentence.
Activity 2
It is time for fun! Play this game [2]
Would you like to play more games? Click on the second link of referances at the bottom of the page
References
[http://www.rogerdarlington.co.uk/index.shtml ]
back to Unit 2: Commas and Apostrophes