Understand How to Use Commas Correctly

In this activity, we will learn - or revise if you're already confident with this - to use commas correctly.

 

Why does this matter?  Well, getting punctuation wrong can lead to some funny misunderstandings!

 

Here's one from a vegetarian menu.  Can you spot the error?

 

 

Goat's cheese salad ingredients: lettuce, tomatoes, goats, cheese.

 

Whoops!  Adding the comma there makes this dish not suitable for vegetarians after all.  

 

 

Let's look at the rules for using commas: 

 

1.  Commas can separate items in a list.

 

We have special ice cream flavours today: strawberry cream, lemon, chocolate and cookie dough.

 

We don't need a comma after the 'and.'

 

 

 

2.  Commas can be used to join compound sentences which use the conjunctions:

 

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

 

I want to go swimming, but the pool is closed.

I don't have a dog, nor does Sophie.

 

3. Commas can be used after an adverb at the beginning of a sentence - called a fronted adverbial.

Remember that adverbs describe the verb - they say how something happened.

 

Quickly, he jogged on the path.

Desperately, he gasped for breath.

 

 

Commas can be used in a few other ways but we will cover these in a different activity. 

 

For now, let's have a go at some questions to practise our comma use.