Website design By BotEap.comIt is said that 90% of all writers use a comma correctly 75% of the time, but only 1% of writers use a comma correctly 99% of the time. Many of us who write for business are in that top 90%. The comment is important. Commas allow your writing to breathe.

Website design By BotEap.comThey are the main device by which the grouping of words, phrases and clauses is established. Consequently, commas are misused more than all other marks combined. There are only four commas, which doesn’t seem like many for such a difficult topic. However, it is the four that get us all into trouble. The four types of commas are Omission, Bracket, List, and Union.

Website design By BotEap.comThat was easy. Now that he knows their names, he knows how to handle each one, right? Let’s make sure.

Website design By BotEap.comLet’s start with the skip comma.

Website design By BotEap.comOmission

Website design By BotEap.comTrue to its title, the skip comma replaces a missing word, most often “and”. The rule is: if you can’t put “and” before the word, then you shouldn’t use an omission comma.

Website design By BotEap.comExample: As teachers, old Jerkins is a boring, uninspired, tedious lecturer who will put you to sleep in less than two minutes.

Website design By BotEap.comYou can change the above sentence by simply adding “and” before “tedious teacher”. If you couldn’t put “and” before the word, then the comma is not needed.

Website design By BotEap.comExample: By removing a word, we make this sentence incorrect. “As for the teachers, old Jerkins is a boring and uninspired teacher who will put you to sleep in less than two minutes.

Website design By BotEap.com“Y” cannot be put in front of “professor”, so the use of the comma is incorrect. For the sentence to be read correctly, we must put a comma before uninspired (it passes the “and” test) and a comma after “lecturer”. Example: “As for the professors, old Jerkins is a boring, uninspired lecturer who will put you to sleep in less than two minutes.

Website design By BotEap.comNow, why does this little change in the placement of the commas work so well? Say hello to my little friend, the union comma.

Website design By BotEap.comunion comma

Website design By BotEap.comThe connecting comma joins independent clauses. The rule is that each part of the prize must be able to stand on its own. Using the example above, we can remove the comma and rewrite the sentence to read: “As professors, old Jerkins is a boring, uninspired lecturer. He’ll put you to sleep in less than two minutes. We had to add the topic “He” to link the professor back to the second sentence, but even without it, the assumed subject would have been the professor.

Website design By BotEap.comBe careful when joining commas, they tend to lengthen sentences, they’re hard to control, so you feel like you’re running out of breath when you read, like they never finish, they never let you stop long enough, and take a little breath.

Website design By BotEap.comPhew! See what I mean? There are at least two separate sentences in the paragraph above. Where would you place the period and start a new sentence? You can also use our little friend the list comma to make the above sentence work. Let’s try.

Website design By BotEap.comcomma list

Website design By BotEap.comA listing comma is just as its name implies: it puts things in a series or list. For example: The attributes that make Joe Jones a good candidate for this position are punctuality, attention to detail, professional leadership, a dedicated employee, and an inspiring team leader.

Website design By BotEap.comYou can’t make these terms independent because the subject is lost, so a “joining” comma doesn’t work, and commas aren’t “omission” commas because if you put “and” in place of the commas, then the the whole sentence becomes awkward and continuous. Try it.

Website design By BotEap.comTwo simple rules for listing commands. Rule 1: You have the option of putting a comma in front of the last element before “and” in the last element of a list. It is a choice, and correct either way. The rule is: don’t let anyone scold you for doing this, it’s their choice too.

Website design By BotEap.comRule 2: Don’t put a comma before the first item in the list or after the last item in the list.

Website design By BotEap.comThe comma in parentheses (or in parentheses)

Website design By BotEap.comThe last in our series is the comma in parentheses. Also called in parentheses since it does what it says. Highlights a part of an award that contains information that may be nice, but not essential to that award. For example: In the process of developing the widget, which will revolutionize the widget industry, we failed to estimate its greatest value to tire manufacturers.

Website design By BotEap.comCommas in parentheses separate a portion of the prize that, while informative, is not essential for the prize to work, just as “that will revolutionize the widget industry” is not essential for this prize to work. You could write the sentence: In determining the value of the micro-gidget (which will revolutionize the gadget industry), we did not realize its greatest value to tire manufacturers. Here the information – although informative is not necessary. The topic is the micro widget and its value to tire manufacturers.

Website design By BotEap.comThe last word
As we can see here, the old rule of thumb of using a comma wherever you take a breath, if you were speaking the sentence, is not entirely accurate. This rule of thumb has some merit as a starting point, but it helps to know what type of comma applies when editing your work.