Transcript Document

Goals For Today
• Characterize the comma and its role in
sentences
• View and discuss five reliable rules for comma
placement
• If there is time, we’ll practice identifying
where and why to use commas in an exercise
The Comma: The Traffic Cop
The comma
regulates the
flow of phrases
and clauses in
a sentence.
Five Main Comma Rules
–A Preview—
1) After sentence
introductions:
Intro, SV.
SV; TE, SV.
2) Between clauses:
SV, {FANBOYS} SV.
SV, DC.
SV, {FANBOYS} SV, DC.
3) To insert elements
into clauses:
S, phrase, V.
S, clause, V.
4) To separate items
in a list:
a, b, and c
adj, adj noun
5) Tags:
I said, “I quote.”
“Frankly, my dear,” he
said, “I quote, too.”
Let’s Examine the 5 in Detail
1) Intro, SV.
= Introductory word
group, subject verb.
Subject + Verb = Clause
The subject is the person or
thing that does the action.
The verb = action.
Independent Clause
A clause has a subject and verb.
An independent clause has
enough information about the
subject and verb that it can stand
on its own and not leave a reader
confused.
Introductory Word Group
Anything before the
subject of the first
independent clause (IC)
is the introductory word
group.
Sentence Introduction Examples
Believing she had plenty of
time, the student put off writing
her paper until the night before it
was due.
Sentence Introduction Examples
Subsequently, the student’s
essay was poorly organized
and undeveloped.
Sentence Introduction Examples
Although her initial work
was substandard, the student
learned to do better the next time.
Sentence Introduction Examples
The student drafted her second
paper a week before it was due; as
a result, she had time to revise it
before turning it in.
2) Comma Between Clauses
Traffic-cop comma holds back the
end of a clause to make way for
another independent clause:
IC, for/and/nor/but/or/yet/so IC.
Comma Between Clauses
I exist, for I cogitate. It sounds
pretentious, yet I wrote it anyway.
I could have written something
better,
but this is PowerPoint,
and the slides don’t have room!
Keep compound elements together!
No commas in compound
predicates: S V and V.
I ate a sandwich and drank
some ginger ale.
No Commas in Compounds
A good money manager controls
expenses and invests surplus
dollars to meet future needs
(Hacker 288).
No Commas in Compounds
Marie Curie discovered radium
and later applied her work on
radioactivity to medicine (Hacker 302).
No Commas in Compounds
I was impressed that he knew how
to cook an omelet and that he
enjoyed helping others.
No Commas in Compounds
She was pleased to note that the
band had reunited and that the
former manager had been fired.
2) Comma Between Clauses
Clause, optional element.
“optional” = nonessential
Nonessential elements give the
reader information, but they are
not required for grammatical
understanding.
Clause, optional element.
For school, the children need sturdy
backpacks, which are expensive.
I ran off without my food, despite my
spending four hours preparing it the
night before.
Clause, optional element.
Elvis Presley made music industry
history in the 1950s, his records having
sold more than ten million copies
(Hacker 297).
Clause, {FANBOYS} clause.
The van was shaped like a toe,
and its engine roared like a hippo.
Clause, {FANBOYS} clause.
My backpack was clean and
bright orange in January,
but it was dingy and
smelled bad by the end of
the quarter.
3) To insert a phrase into a clause
Anything between subject
and verb is an insertion.
There need to be commas
before and after the inserted
element.
Phrase Inserted into Clause
Natural foods are not always
salt free; celery, for example,
contains more sodium than
most people would imagine
(Hacker 297).
Phrase Inserted into Clause
Many dark bitter fruits, such
as blueberries, cranberries,
and black cherries, have
healthful antioxidants.
Inserted Adjective Clause:
Ed’s house, which is located on
thirteen acres, was furnished
with bats in the rafters and mice
in the kitchen (Hacker 294).
Prepositional phrases or verbal
phrases functioning as adjectives:
The helicopter, with its million-
candlepower spotlight
illuminating the area, circled
above (Hacker 295).
Appositives (nonessential)
Darwin’s most important
book, On the Origin of
Species, was the result of
many years of research
(Hacker 295).
Essential—No Commas
The song “Vertigo” was
blasted out of huge
amplifiers (Hacker 295).
The writer’s purpose can determine
if info essential or not:
The cake made with coconut was
delicious.
This identifies which cake out of
two or more (and it is part of the
subject) = essential
The cake, made with
coconut, was delicious.
This adds information about
the only cake discussed.
=nonessential
4) Items in a list
Commas divide separate items
in a series:
Bubbles of air, leaves, ferns, bits
of wood, and insects are often
found trapped in amber (290).
Separate Items in a List
But . . .
I was served macaroni and cheese,
broccoli, and eggs.
Coordinate Adjectives
He was a no-good, low-down, dirty,
rotten rascal.
If the adj’s can switch places without
altering the meaning, they are
coordinate adjectives.
No comma: cumulative adjectives
Three large gray shapes
moved slowly toward us (Hacker
292).
(Three(large(gray shapes)))
5) Tags
• Set off nouns of direct address
• The words “yes” and “no”
• Interrogative tags
• Mild interjections
• Dialogue tags (verbs of saying)
• Afterthoughts
• Forgive us, Dr. Atkins, for
having rolls with dinner (Hacker
298). [direct address]
• Yes, the loan will probably be
approved. [Yes/No tag]
• The film was faithful to the
book, wasn’t it? [Interrog. tag]
• Well, cases like these are difficult
to decide. [Mild interjection]
• I laughed when he muttered,
“That’s what she said.” [dialogue]
• The bass weighed twelve pounds,
give or take a few ounces
(Hacker 297). [afterthought]
Other Uses of the Comma
Dates:
On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens
erupted, turning daylight into dusk.
No comma for inverted dates: 18 May 2013
No comma for month + year: May 2013
Place names, except ZIP
John Lennon was born in
Liverpool, England, in 1940.
Please send the package to
Greg Tarvin at 708 Spring Street,
Champaign, Illinois 61820.
Title Following Name
Gregory House, M.D.
Sue Lau, Ph.D.
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of
Germany
Numbers four or more digits:
3,500
13,500
135,000,000
Commas: They’re about the Clauses!
1. Intro, SV.
2. SV, {FANBOYS} SV.
3. S, insertion, V.
4. Separate Items in Lists
5. “Tags” tacked onto IC.
Works Cited
Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 6th
ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
2008. Print.