The pause at the end of a clause

Last month’s Grammar Talk post began with a joke:

What’s the difference between a comma and a cat?
One is the pause at the end of a clause, and the other has claws at the end of its paws!

We went on to discuss clauses, but I’m not finished with this theme yet. What about commas? Sure, we use them to separate clauses sometimes, but surely the humble comma is useful for more than that? It most certainly is! Commas can be used for a great number of purposes: let’s explore them.

Dividing clauses

As we’ve already discovered in previous posts, commas can be used to separate two clauses—provided, of course, that at least one of the clauses involved is a dependent clause.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

There aren’t any crackers left, because you ate them all yesterday, so we’ll have to go get more.

Remember as well that if you’re trying to join up two independent clauses, however, a comma will absolutely not be enough for the job, and you’ll need to rely on another option, such as a semicolon, em-dash, or conjunction.

Distinguishing phrases (and other introductory words and interjections)

I won’t go into too much detail about what a phrase is—that can be saved for a later post—but for the purposes of this description, I will define a phrase as a collection of words that work together to perform a single function in a sentence, such as a noun phrase (the high school prom queen), verb phrase (busting some sweet moves), or prepositional phrase (next to the paper moon).

Sometimes, we need to use commas to distinguish an additional phrase from the rest of the sentence for purposes of clarity, though in some cases the comma may be optional (just consider how the sentence flows and what feels better). Phrases can be inserted into the middle of the sentence, at the beginning, or at the end:

Tessa greeted Marjorie, the high school prom queen, with caution.

Busting some sweet moves, Derek made himself king of the dance floor.

Colin stashed his jacket in a nook above the stage, next to the paper moon.

The same trick can be done with single words as well as multi-word phrases—we often add extra words to the start of a sentence to transition from one topic to another in formal writing (“However”, “Therefore”, “Nevertheless”) or as a springboard to launch into a new topic in more casually emphatic writing or colloquial dialogue (“Well”, “Now”, “Um”, “So”).

Additional words can also appear in other places in the sentence, as in the following example, with the appropriate commas:

Occasionally, the weather is capable of behaving itself.

The weather is, occasionally, capable ofbehaving itself.

The weather is capable of behaving itself, occasionally.

Denoting dates, places, and titles

Commas frequently make low-key appearances when writing dates (4 February, 1946), locations (London, Ohio), and official titles (Dr John Watson, MD). There’s nothing particularly interesting to say about this; it’s just the convention we use.

Separating items in a list

You will commonly spot commas hard at work in lists, where they separate the different items being listed. The last item in the list will generally be preceded by an “and” (or possibly an “or”), but all other list items will usually be separated by just a comma.

There are exceptions, though, when a semicolon may be used instead; specifically, this is when the items in the list have commas within them already, so it’s pointless trying to distinguish the items with commas as well. You may recall this example from my post on semicolons:

We drove through Tallahassee, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; St Louis, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan, in a detour that surprised us all; and finally, at the end of it all, Indianapolis, Indiana.

A word about the Oxford Comma

You may have heard a lot of very heated opinions about the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma. Or perhaps you haven’t, and you don’t really know what it is that people are apparently getting very heated about.

In brief, the Oxford comma is a comma used in a list just before the “and” or “or” (shrimp, oysters[,] and crab cakes). Using an Oxford comma can add clarity to a list when it may not otherwise be entirely obvious where the separation of list items should be at the list’s end. Compare the following for an example of why it might be used:

The crate was full of hammers, screwdrivers, boxes of nuts and bolts and pairs of pliers.

The crate was full of hammers, screwdrivers, boxes of nuts and bolts, and pairs of pliers.

The use of the Oxford comma is not a universal rule of punctuation in the English language, and it tends to be divisive. It’s more commonly adopted in the UK than in the US, and many people have been taught that it is grammatically incorrect. Just as there are situations where using the Oxford comma adds clarity, there are also situations where it muddies the meaning; in most cases, though, it’s easy enough to rewrite the list so that the comma’s presence or absence no longer causes a problem.

Whether you are a proponent of the Oxford comma or not is up to you—you may have noticed that I use it, myself. Either way is technically correct! The most important thing, though, is that you are consistent about whether or not you’re using it (at least within a single text or setting).

Introducing dialogue and dialogue tags

Dialogue is another topic I will discuss in more detail in future posts, so for now I will limit myself to how we enter and exit it.

If you’re using dialogue tags (e.g. “he said”, “she hollered”, “they whispered”), you are in effect placing your dialogue within a sentence rather than making it stand alone. Therefore, you’ll want to use commas in places that would otherwise be full stops/periods when transitioning in and out of dialogue:

“I think it’s broken,” said Harriet.

“That’s no good,” Mildred complained. “We need it for tonight!”

“I know,” replied Harriet, “but that’s the way it is.”

In general, it’s much neater and preferred to put some or all of the dialogue before the tag, rather than starting the sentence with a dialogue tag and then following that up with a new sentence of dialogue, which gets messy. I have written more about dialogue tags if you wish to read up on how to use them beyond the commas.

There are also times where people feel like commas ought to be included when, in fact, they shouldn’t be. This is where I once again affix my glare upon the “put commas where you pause” advice, so if you’ll allow me to ascend my soapbox…

For those of you who don’t know what I mean, I should explain that some of us were told as children that commas should go in the places where we would pause when we read, but this is quite backwards (or perhaps just wildly misremembered on my part). When you read, you should pause when you hit a comma, but it doesn’t follow that when you write you should put commas wherever you want your readers to pause—we pause in all sorts of weird places when we speak because we’re thinking of the next word, or for emphasis, or because speaking patterns are just a little eccentric sometimes.

If you want your readers to be able to easily follow your sentence structure, it is far more effective to keep closely aligned with standard grammatical conventions that will be instinctively familiar to them. Don’t discount your instincts with commas—even if you can’t put grammatical rules into words, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to tell when something’s a bit off.

Here are some other places where you should avoid putting commas (unless there is a grammatical reason to do so as described above)—see if your instincts can pick up on the incorrect usages:

• Between the subject of your sentence and the action:
  I am going to go, to the store for milk. [Incorrect]
  I am going to go to the store for milk. [Correct]
• Between two verb phrases when the same subject is performing both actions (within the same clause—if a comma is used, it may not look incorrect grammatically but will change the perceived meaning):
  Suzy sang, and danced for America’s Got Talent. [Incorrect (implies that the singing wasn’t part of the America’s Got Talent performance)]
  Suzy sang and danced for America’s Got Talent. [Correct]
• Between two subjects when they are both performing the same action:
  Mike, and Annabel had difficulty fitting everything into the car. [Incorrect]
  Mike and Annabel had difficulty fitting everything into the car. [Correct]
• Between two objects when the same action is being performed to both of them:
  Sam poured out bowls of nuts, and candies. [Incorrect]
  Sam poured out bowls of nuts and candies. [Correct]

I know commas can be very confusing little bits of punctuation, but hopefully you’re now better prepared to wield them with confidence!

Happy writing, friends!

Has this post given you a punctuation-based epiphany? (Or, more likely, has it cleared up a few muddy points for you?) If so, subscribe to Red Pens and Playwriting to receive more helpful Grammar Talk posts (among other fun things)!