If it’s a complete thought, you need a comma. Read what comes after FANBOYS all by itself. You can read your own writing in the same way. Try reading the words after FANBOYS all by themselves. In other words, if the second grouping of words isn’t a complete thought, don’t use a comma. If you do not have two subjects and two verbs separated by the FANBOYS, you do not need to insert the comma before the FANBOYS. Look carefully at the next two sentences to see two independent clauses separated by comma + FANBOYS. You should always have a comma before FANBOYS that join two independent clauses (two subjects and two verbs that make up two complete thoughts). Phrases: My socks are in the living room or under my bed.Ĭlauses: They smell really bad, so they will be easy to find. They can connect words, phrases, and clauses, like this: FANBOYSįANBOYS is a handy mnemonic device for remembering the coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. If you discover that you feel nauseated, then you know you’ve tried my Clam Surprise.Īs far as I am concerned, it is the best dish for dispatching unwanted guests. You can often spot these by looking for key words/groups such as although, if, as, in order to, and when: There are large introductory bits (more than 4 words). Throughout his early life, he felt a strong affinity with a playful dolphin named Flipper.įrankly speaking, Godzilla wanted to play the same kinds of roles that Flipper was given.ĭissatisfied with destruction, he was hoping to frolick in the waves with his Hollywood friends. In fact, Godzilla is just a misunderstood teen lizard of giant proportions. Often these are two- to four-word prepositional phrases or brief -ing and -ed phrases: Moreover, some will knit booties for you if you ask nicely. Generally, extraterrestrials are friendly and helpful. There are small (just one word) introductory bits: It simply introduces the main subject and verb. No matter what size they are, an introductory bit cannot stand alone as a complete thought. There are basically three kinds of introductory bits: small, medium, and large ones. Setting off introductory words, phrases, or clauses with a comma lets the reader know that the main subject and main verb of the sentence come later. These guidelines are basically all you need to know if you learn them once, you’re set for most situations. You probably already know at least one of the following guidelines and just have to practice the others. You can learn to identify many of those places using the tips in this handout. MYTH: Commas are so mysterious that it’s impossible to figure out where they belong! Some rules are flexible, but most of the time, commas belong in very predictable places.Different readers pause or breathe in different places. Where you pause or breathe in a sentence does not reliably indicate where a comma belongs. MYTH: You should add a comma wherever you pause.The length of a sentence does not determine whether you need a comma. A really long sentence may be perfectly correct without commas. Although using commas correctly may seem mysterious, it can be easy if you follow a few guidelines. Using commas incorrectly may confuse the reader, signal ignorance of writing rules, or indicate carelessness. Commas, commas, and more commasĬommas help your reader figure out which words go together in a sentence and which parts of your sentences are most important. This handout offers seven easy steps to deciding when to use a comma. Use a comma to separate elements of a list, distinguish groups of words that go together, mark conjunctions between complete thoughts, and more. In English, commas are used to separate parts of sentences.
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