Comma placement

I am a late beginnger college student. I am needing rules for comma placement. Please, I am open to any suggestions.

Shelly

[carolandrea]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am a late beginnger college student. I am needing rules for comma placement. Please, I am open to any suggestions.

Shelly

Generally, commas go where you would naturally have a pause in a setence if you were speaking it outload. For example, "Like I said before [naturaul speaking pause], he is a very nice guy." Also, there commas belong in between words if you are writing a list. For example, "Please use the colors red, green, black, and purple for the painting." There was a comma in between the colors because it separates the nouns in the sentence. Those are the most basic examples of comma usage.

[Anglika]

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[rewboss]

Originally Posted by carolandrea

Generally, commas go where you would naturally have a pause in a setence if you were speaking it outload.

Yes, I used to believe that, too. But after a few years of having to teach it, I realise that it's a pretty useless rule.

Here's my attempt to explain the comma.

Briefly, we use commas:

in lists
before and after phrases in apposition and non-defining relative clauses
to introduce direct speech
before most coordinating conjunctions, but after "however" and a few others