Using Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions. Online Writing Lab - Comma Placement. Comma Placement The comma was originally invented in order to avoid confusion in sentences; however, since it can be used in so many different ways, students are often confused as to when to use it and where it should be placed. Many students have been taught, for example, that a comma should be placed wherever the reader pauses. The problem with this reasoning is that each reader might pause at a different place in the sentence. This section is intended to provide some instruction on the basic grammar rules that determine when and where the comma is commonly placed. These rules speak to the common errors that most students make when placing the comma. The Six Most Commonly Misunderstood Comma Rules Rule #1 Place a comma after an introductory or transitional word.
Examples However, it is necessary to write a lot of papers in college courses.Therefore, it is useful to know where to place the comma. Exercise 1 Rule #2 Place a comma after an introductory element (clause or phrase). Exercise 2 Mrs. List of Interactive Quizzes. The quizzes with a magenta marble are also listed within the section or digital handout to which they apply. The twenty-one quizzes with a green marble and designated "Practice" have been adapted from the instructor's manual and other ancillary materials accompanying Sentence Sense: A Writer's Guide.
They are duplicated here with permission of the author, Evelyn Farbman, and the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Inc. The seventeen quizzes with a gold marble were written by the English faculty at an estimable midwestern university and are used here with the permission of that department. The ten quizzes with a red marble were prepared by students in Professor Karyn Hollis's Tutor Training course at Villanova University. Clicking on the NUMBER immediately before the quiz's name will take you to the section of the Guide pertaining to the grammatical issue(s) addressed in that quiz. Clicking on the Guide's logo at the top of a quiz-page will bring you back to this page. Punctuation Campground. Punctuation Campground.