Questions tagged [commas]
The comma is a punctuation character that is placed on the baseline and looks similar to a single quotation mark.
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Commas Around a Disjunct After a Coordinating Conjunction?
Which punctuation is correct for this sentence? :
"I took the dog to the park this morning and, of course, he needed a bath afterwards because he rolled in the mud."
"I took the dog to the park this ...
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Can I describe the subject after a comma if the subject does not come before it? [closed]
I know that in sentences like those found below, the subject has to go right after the comma:
Contrary to what she believed in, Emily went along with the group.
Filled with so many other kids, school ...
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24 views
Punctuation in dialogue that addressed more than one person
So I got a question regarding comma in speech. Here is an example of the sentence:
“Wait a minute.” I hurriedly shouted to stop him and said to her, “Who invited that blockhead to this party?"
In ...
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Where do the commas go with prepositional introductory phrases?
"Over the river, through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go."
Where do the commas go with these introductory prepositional phrases?
Over the river, through the woods, to Grandmother's ...
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1answer
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How to punctuate "We went first to pick up James and then to find Jessica and finally to get Timothy"? [closed]
In the sentence below, I am wondering if it is more accurate to put a comma after James and a comma after Jessica, or if there should be no commas at all. A short explanation would also be helpful!
&...
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Compound Sentences with Interrupting Phrase [duplicate]
If I have a compound sentence with two independent clauses joined by an "and", but also have an interrupting phrase, what is the rule on punctuation (assuming I only want to use commas, not ...
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1answer
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Does every piece of punctuation add syntactic information? [closed]
Does every piece of punctuation add syntactic information?
I am on an endless mission to find a fool-proof usage for commas (for some reason I can't breathe), and in lieu of someone sending me an ...
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40 views
Is gapping comma appropriate for formal writing?
Some politicians argue that most tax is paid by the poor; others, the rich.
Is this construct formal, informal or neutral?
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1answer
73 views
Comma Use Confusion
She can become enraged, even murderous at times.
She can become enraged, even murderous, at times.
Which of these is correct and why?
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1answer
32 views
Do you need a comma at the end of an insert? [duplicate]
I have read some documents and saw two versions:
We certify that Joe Doe, born on the 1st of January 2000, attended something.
We certify that Joe Doe, born on the 1st of January 2000 attended ...
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1answer
32 views
Listing items with item itself having comma [duplicate]
We looked at potential publishers for this paper, including European Conference on
Object-Oriented Programming, Object-oriented Programming, Systems,
Languages, and Applications, and IEEE
Transactions ...
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28 views
Comma Before "If"
I would like to ask if a comma is necessary before "if" in this sentence (this one is from the mystery novel I am writing):
I adopted the literal way of understanding the verse, and if it ...
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2answers
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Placing comma before ambiguous prepositional phrase
But when I'm not writing code, I'll be spending time with friends and family, in the pursuit of happiness.
Is the comma placement before "in the pursuit of happiness" correct? Most of the ...
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1answer
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a project involving training for children, teachers, and parents(,) was the most effective [duplicate]
is adding the comma before was necessary?
a project involving training for children, teachers, and parents(,) was the most effective
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35 views
Why is there a comma after the word “recipient”?
Writing sample below (first sentence, not second)
The statement is also in the interest of the recipient, as a person seeking an attorney would likely want to know if an attorney only wants easy ...
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1answer
29 views
Can a single comma close off two asides?
Example:
The text's references to Joyce, as well as to Hemingway, who would often fight other pub-goers on behalf of the Irishman, made no mistake about this.
It seems fine to me, but I just remember ...
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29 views
Do you always need to break up clauses with commas?
I've been getting back into creative writing after years away from it and have been running into some grammar issues. This time, it's about clauses and commas.
'I like him because he's funny and he's ...
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2answers
46 views
Comma, new sentence or semi-colon? Linking a statement with its justification/reason
I need to edit this sentence of the form "[statement about an object], [explanation as to why the statement holds]", but there is no language that links the two clauses, like a "this is ...
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1answer
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Do we need the comma after 'following' here? "The following, concise descriptions of..." [closed]
My intuition is telling me that there should be no comma after 'following' in the sentence "The following, concise descriptions of...", however, I am not sure. I have never really considered ...
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1answer
48 views
Comma Between a Conjunction and an Adverb [closed]
I would like to ask if a comma is needed before the adverb that succeeds the conjunction "and"?
After finishing our stuff at the police station, we walked out, and surprisingly, we found ...
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2answers
53 views
Do I separate a list of "blank to blank to blank" with commas?
The specific sentence is "The man moved from Paris to London to New York." Would I separate the names of cities with commas?
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28 views
Is using 'as if' okay as a sentence starter?
My teacher is having us write as if sentences and using as if at the start of the sentence. For example, she used "As if I had money, I went shopping". This makes no sense to me or several ...
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Comma in “for the purpose of […](,) and for the sake of simplicity,”
Let's consider the sentence
For the purpose of defining the aforementioned informal problems as formal languages(,) and for the sake of simplicity, we assume the following: […]
Is the comma (,) ...
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1answer
37 views
Should I use a semicolon or a comma after a semicolon-separated list?
I have a list of items separated by semicolons, because the items themselves contain commas. If this were a comma-separated list, I would offset it from the rest of the sentence with a comma, but I'm ...
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1answer
34 views
Interruption Comma "yet then somehow"?
Here are the examples:
He repeated the experiment in exactly the same way yet expect different results.
He repeated the experiment in exactly the same way then somehow expect different results.
...
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1answer
46 views
Comma Between Adverbs [closed]
Is a comma needed between the adverbs in the following sentence?
I can smell her obviously newly ironed hair.
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On the use of commas before prepositions
I'm having some difficulties understanding why the comma is used in certain contexts. For example, why is a comma used in the below sentence, even though 'except' is a preposition (and commas are ...
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1answer
41 views
Commas in an if, or, then statement
For example, do I need the commas in the following sentence?
If you use spectacles, or if you think you will require them within the next year or so, inform your supervisor.
To me, this reads better ...
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47 views
Can you replace an em-dash with a comma?
If I were to say something like
This is something that is revolutionary—that will redefine our society.
Can you use a comma instead of an em dash? In all cases? What are the rules?
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1answer
42 views
What grammatical rule applies to this sentence?
Add chopped potatoes, mushrooms, and herbs, and cook for 20 minutes.
Is a comma necessary before the second "and"? And if it is necessary, why? Please help find a grammar rule for this case.
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1answer
28 views
Using "and" at the end of list which has another item with "and" inside [duplicate]
I have a list like this.
His topic of interest are GIS, automation and image and data fusion.
Here, the last item name "image and data fusion" is a single item. Is my writing correct?
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0answers
36 views
Are commas of omission archaic? As in "I gave Mary a car and Tom, a boat"
It is very common to say or write something like: "I gave Mary a car and Tom, a boat." See also The Comma of Omission by Margie Holds Court. The question is the pragmatism of a comma here.
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Can I use a comma after an apology?
I apologize, you can return the item to the store.
Is the sentence structure correct or did I need to use a period instead?
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3answers
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Why is there a comma in "University of Texas, Austin" but not after?
I just came across this:
“There is broad agreement that the cause of the dinosaur and pterosaur extinctions were one and the same,” University of Texas, Austin paleontologist Brian Andres says. — ...
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1answer
52 views
Comma at the End of a List Following a Colon
Is the following sentence written correctly?
Bob's three favorite colors: black, red, and blue, are Emma's least favorite colors.
Specifically, I'm asking about the comma following blue.
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2answers
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Is this statement grammatically correct as-is, or is an extra comma required?
Settle an argument for me. This is the statement as it is written:
An introverted teenage girl with an unconventional superpower, Taylor goes out in costume to find escape from a deeply unhappy and ...
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1answer
40 views
Unsure whether the clause in this sentence is restrictive or nonrestrictive [closed]
I wanted you to have something tangible in these times, in which very little is concrete.
For more context: this is at the end of a letter that has already established that 'these times' = difficult ...
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27 views
Can you ever place a comma ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ the word "which"? [duplicate]
Is there any scenario in which a comma is used right after the word which?
For example, is this sentence correctly written as is — or not?
The sensitivity to material AAA, which, in fact, is ...
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correctness of "and the smallest last" vs "and the smallest, last"
Which is correct? If both are correct, is one more correct than the other?
The largest pixie should be eaten first, and the smallest last.
The largest pixie should be eaten first, and the smallest, ...
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2answers
71 views
The odd thing is, comma placement [duplicate]
“The odd thing is, she has no idea who he is and why she got all of his heritage.”
I would normally identify this first sentence as having a nominal that-clause acting as a subject complement with the ...
2
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1answer
46 views
Using 'said' as part of a compound verb [closed]
I am working on proofreading a first-time novel. The author repeteadly uses 'said' as part of a kind of compound verb (dropping the subject after 'and'):
"I don't understand," he said, and ...
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2answers
85 views
Enumeration with "all"
Consider this sentence:
Your self-confidence, resilience and adaptability , all will help you integrate in this new competitive environment.
My question is about the comma before all. I tried to ...
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2answers
76 views
Comma question - warning: quite possibly opinion based
I managed to stump myself. Normally, I would defer on a style-related issue, but it feels like there should be a solution here to have clarity that I'm not seeing.
I garden. I was replying to a garden ...
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2answers
78 views
Why is this use of "therefore" considered a restrictive adverb?
So, I found this explanation of when and when not to set off adverbs with commas.
Here is an example in which 'therefore' serves as more of an aside or a pause:
All of the test animals, therefore, ...
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1answer
46 views
ACT Comma Question [duplicate]
I came across this sentence on the ACT:
It was adopted by the Akkadians, Hittites, Persians, and others, and used for over 3,000 years.
I can see that the comma in "and others, and used" ...
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Should I use a comma to separate a list of two numeric elements when one element is a range?
In a two-element list such as "items 1 to 6 and 11", should the two elements be separated by a comma?
I have been told that without the comma, the list can be interpreted to mean "items ...
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Comma use: Two variables, A and B, were examined in separate models [duplicate]
Grammarly recommends removing the second comma but for me it seems that this is needed. What would be the correct comma use in such a sentence?
Two variables, fracture type and management method, ...
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4answers
42 views
Differentiating appositive phrases and non-restrictive relative clauses
I'm writing my thesis, and I haven't taken an English class in over a decade, so I apologize if I'm using incorrect terminology in my title, but I was curious about the potential role of relative ...
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Should I put an appositive comma around a possessive appositive
In the process of editing a translation, I came across this sentence: "[That night] was also the opening curtain to the Sheng Yuan Emperor, Li Yi’s unification of the world." (To clarify ...
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1answer
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Commas with "then"
I can't figure out when I should/shouldn't put a comma before "then"
Pro Writing Aid says that "then" has started to replace "and then."
I went to bed, [and] then I ...
