comma Definition

comma
noun

commas
1. A punctuation mark (,) indicating a slight pause or break made for the sake of clarity, to separate items in a list, etc.

Etymology: 16c: Latin, from Greek comma short clause.

Info:

A comma

○ indicates a pause or slight break within a sentence &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; Many commas of this kind are nowadays optional:

However, always use a comma to separate the main clause from a dependent clause that comes before it &wbox;

○ It separates clauses between which there is a balance or contrast &wbox;

Alternative styles a semicolon and no conjunction &wbox; a colon and no conjunction &wbox;

○ It clarifies the structure or meaning of a sentence &wbox; &wbox;

Note especially how the comma is used to distinguish between a ‘defining relative clause' and a ‘non-defining relative clause' &wbox; (ie all the students) &wbox; (ie only those who attend classes every day).

○ It separates introductory words and inserted comments &wbox; &wbox;

○ It is used after ‘yes' and ‘no', and before ‘please' &wbox; &wbox; &wbox;

○ It is used before the name of a person being spoken to, and before other forms of address &wbox; &wbox;

○ It separates groups of adjectives, phrases, nouns and adverbs, with an optional comma before the ‘and' or ‘or' &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox; &wbox;

○ It separates direct speech from the rest of the sentence &wbox; &wbox;

Alternative style: a colon, when the quoted speech comes last &wbox;

○ Although it is not incorrect, nowadays it is not usually used in letter-writing, either in the address or after ‘Dear Sir' etc.

○ It is used optionally in five-figure numbers and above, before every three figures counting from the left &wbox; &wbox; .

Alternative styles: no comma and no space &wbox; ; a thin space and no comma &wbox; .