Commas
I’ve had a few people ask me for help with commas, so I’ll try to help as much as I can. In elementary school, I was taught that you put a comma any time there is supposed to be a pause in a sentence. Well, that is sort of true.
Commas are used to separate independent clauses when they are joined by a coordinating conjunction (F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. - For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So).
- I went to the concert, but the band didn’t play my favorite song.
Commas can also be used after introductory clauses, phrases, or words that come before the main clause:
- While I was in the shower, the pizza guy rang the doorbell.
- Because he forgot to set his alarm, he was late for his appointment.
If you are having trouble with comma placement, practicing is obviously helpful. But no one is going to go out and buy workbooks, so that’s out. I would say that reading is the most effective way to improve your grammar, punctuation, and spelling. You will see how authors and writers place their commas and after a while, it will become natural for you to place commas in the correct places. Read as much as you can, but remember - reading Facebook updates and Tumblr posts doesn’t count. The majority of people who spend time on social networking sites don’t know how to read or write, so they’ll just screw you up (see previous post). There are plenty of things you could read that will help: the news, books, essays, even Wikipedia. Google a random topic and read all you want to know about it.
Hope that helped.
