If you want to include some information that is not important to the meaning of the sentence, enclose it in commas, e.g. 'Peter, who is my best friend, won't be able to come to the party tonight'. The extra information is 'who is my best friend'. If the information you include is important to the meaning of the sentence, DON'T enclose it in commas, e.g. 'The man who is standing in the corner is my uncle'. The important information is 'who is standing in the corner'. Without this important information, we would be left with 'The man is my uncle'. You might then ask 'Which man?' Use a comma... Show more If you want to include some information that is not important to the meaning of the sentence, enclose it in commas, e.g. 'Peter, who is my best friend, won't be able to come to the party tonight'. The extra information is 'who is my best friend'. If the information you include is important to the meaning of the sentence, DON'T enclose it in commas, e.g. 'The man who is standing in the corner is my uncle'. The important information is 'who is standing in the corner'. Without this important information, we would be left with 'The man is my uncle'. You might then ask 'Which man?' Use a comma to separate the elements in a series, e.g. 'He was tall, dark and handsome'. The final comma before the 'and' can be left out or included, but whatever you decide - be consistent. This comma actually has a name: it is called the 'Oxford' comma. Note: a comma is not used between the last adjective and the noun or pronoun. Use a comma with 'and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so' to connect two independent clauses: an independent clause is a sentence that is part of a sentence, e.g. 'I don't like music much, but I love jazz music'. The independent clauses are 'I don't like music much' and 'I love jazz music'. Use a comma to set off introductory elements, e.g. Running towards the bridge, he suddenly heard a loud explosion. Where commas are used for extra information, if the sentence makes sense by removing the words in between the two commas, then the commas are probably in the right place. If you are not sure whether to add a comma in your writing, read the sentence aloud to see if you need to take a breath somewhere - this is usually where a comma is needed. Show less
If you want to include some information that is not important to the meaning of the sentence, enclose it in commas, e.g. 'Peter, who is my best friend, won't be able to come to the party tonight'. The extra information is 'who is my best friend'. If the information you include is important to the meaning of the sentence, DON'T enclose it in commas, e.g. 'The man who is standing in the corner is my uncle'. The important information is 'who is standing in the corner'. Without this important information, we would be left with 'The man is my uncle'. You might then ask 'Which man?' Use a comma to separate the elements in a series, e.g. 'He was tall, dark and handsome'. The final comma before the 'and' can be left out or included, but whatever you decide - be consistent. This comma actually has a name: it is called the 'Oxford' comma. Note: a comma is not used between the last adjective and the noun or pronoun. Use a comma with 'and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so' to connect two independent clauses: an independent clause is a sentence that is part of a sentence, e.g. 'I don't like music much, but I love jazz music'. The independent clauses are 'I don't like music much' and 'I love jazz music'. Use a comma to set off introductory elements, e.g. Running towards the bridge, he suddenly heard a loud explosion. Where commas are used for extra information, if the sentence makes sense by removing the words in between the two commas, then the commas are probably in the right place. If you are not sure whether to add a comma in your writing, read the sentence aloud to see if you need to take a breath somewhere - this is usually where a comma is needed.
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