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Grabbing her umbrella, Kate raced out of the house.Ĭonfused by her sister’s sudden change in mood, Jill stayed quiet. Commas with introductory phrasesĪ comma normally follows a participial phrase that introduces a sentence: The detective Sherlock Holmes is one of literature’s greatest sleuths. Nick Jonas’s brother Kevin is the most underrated Jonas. Essential appositivesĮdgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” is a classic. The painter, one of the city’s most promising young artists, began showing his work in galleries before he was sixteen.Ĭhocolate, my favorite treat, always makes me feel better after a bad day. If the appositive is necessary, it’s said to be essential and should not be set off with commas. If you could remove the appositive without changing the meaning of the sentence, it is said to be nonessential and should be set off with commas. Often, the appositive provides additional information about the noun or helps to distinguish it in some way. Commas with appositivesĪn appositive is a noun or noun phrase that refers to the same thing as another noun in the same sentence. If you removed it, there would be no way to tell which restaurant you were talking about. The clause “that Chester recommended” is essential information in the sentence above.

The cafe that Chester recommended is a fantastic restaurant. Use a comma before the coordinating conjunction but if it is joining two independent clauses: I dedicate this award to my parents, Jane Austen, and Albert Einstein.

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A serial comma eliminates the possibility of misreading, so even if you’re not using serial commas in your writing, make an exception for sentences like this: To put it another way, the writer seems to be saying that her parents are Jane Austen and Albert Einstein. Without a serial comma, it looks like “Jane Austen and Albert Einstein” is an appositive, rather than the second and third elements in a list. The sentence above will almost certainly cause readers to do a double take. I dedicate this award to my parents, Jane Austen and Albert Einstein. Keep in mind, though, that occasionally the serial comma is necessary for clarity. In your own writing, you can decide for yourself whether to use it-just be consistent. Whether or not you use the serial comma is a style choice. If you google “serial comma” or “Oxford comma,” you’ll see a lot of heavy weather from opinionated commenters, but there are times when using the comma (or omitting it) results in ambiguity, which is why it’s best to stay flexible.I still have to buy a gift, pack the suitcases and arrange for someone to water the plants while we’re at the wedding. Second, the serial comma is optional some mainstream style guides (such as the Associated Press) don’t use it. First, let’s note that Strunk & White recommend the serial comma (1918) per Chicago (1906), not the other way around we were using it when White was still learning to read! And since it is commonly called the Oxford comma, it seems the British have been onto it for a while as well.

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(I find myself more and more often rechecking to see if these periodicals and books are British!) Has your staff also noticed this tendency? If so, do you have a professional opinion on the subject?Ī. However, in recent years I have increasingly seen US publications not follow this rule.

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Chicago, APA, and other style guides for US English require a comma before the conjunction in a series of three or more items, per Strunk and White.

Serial comma