Using commas in English

A list of helpful rules

I wonder if anyone will understand why I chose this photo! (Photo by Louise Smith on Unsplash)

Hello!

Today, we’re going to look at commas and how to use them.

These tiny little punctuation marks can help the reader or even change the meaning of a sentence. So it’s a good idea to learn how to use them correctly.

The rules about commas are not quite as strict as they are for some other punctuation marks, like full stops. There are some situations where the writer can choose whether to use a comma or not.

In these cases, my advice is to think more about whether a comma will help your reader to understand the sentence better rather than getting too stressed about the rules.

Let’s have a look!

A quick(ish) list of rules

1. Lists

We use commas to separate items in a list of 3 or more items.

For example:
We made a fruit salad with pineapple, mango, grapes and kiwi fruit.
Or: We made a fruit salad with pineapple, mango, grapes, and kiwi fruit.

See the extra comma before “and” in the second sentence? You can read more about this in the section about the Oxford comma below.

2. To separate clauses

First, what’s a clause? It’s a group of words which includes a subject and a verb. If you’re still not sure what it means, maybe my example sentences will make it clearer.

When there are two clauses in a sentence, we often separate the clauses with a comma. But only if the main clause comes second.

For example:
If it rains, I’ll probably stay at home.
When you arrive, give me a ring so I know you got there safely.
Because it was raining, we decided to stay at home.

If we write these sentences the other way around, there’s no comma:

I’ll probably stay at home if it rains.
Give me a ring when you arrive so I know you got there safely.
We decided to stay at home because it was raining.

3. Around non-essential information

Sometimes commas separate extra non-essential information from the rest of the sentence.

For example:
This solution, in my opinion, is the best one.

I could write:
This solution (in my opinion) is the best one.

So these commas are a bit like brackets.

Here are some more examples:
Paris, the capital of France, is a beautiful city.
My father, believe it or not, is 80 years old.
My brother, who lives in London, is visiting me next week.

If you remove the information between the two commas, the sentences still make sense, right?

The last example is a non-defining relative clause. You can read a bit more about that in the relative clauses section below.

Sometimes, there’s just one comma and the extra information comes after it.

For example:
I watched an interview with J.K. Rowling, author of “Harry Potter”.

4. After introductory words

When we put introductory words, phrases or clauses at the beginning of a sentence, we usually separate them from the main part of the sentence with a comma.

For example:
Occasionally, I go for a longer walk along the river.
After breakfast, I got dressed and cleaned my teeth.
Upstairs, there are three bedrooms.

You don’t have to use a comma here, especially when it’s just one or two words. With longer introductory phrases and clauses, a comma helps the reader so it’s better to put one in.

For example:
After cooking and cleaning all day, she was completely exhausted!

Some linking adverbs need a comma.

For example:
However, we decided to stay at home.
Therefore, I always take my umbrella.

Some style guides say not to use a comma after an introductory time phrase:

Yesterday I read a really interesting article in the paper.
In 2002 I started working in Cambridge.

But many people do, myself included:

Yesterday, I read a really interesting article in the paper.
In 2002, I started working in Cambridge.

The rules aren’t always black and white.

You might notice some similarities between points 2, 3 and 4. In all of these cases, the commas is used to separate secondary information from the main information.

5. With adjectives

If two or more adjectives are used before a noun, we sometimes put a comma between them.

The adjectives need to be a similar type and they need to be interchangeable.

For example:
She was a chatty, confident student.
or
She was a confident, chatty student.

The adjectives are the same type (personality) and interchangeable (the order is not important).

But other times, we don’t need a comma.

For example:
I saw a big black dog.
She was wearing a bright pink sweater.
We had a delicious Italian dessert.

6. With direct speech and quotations

He said, “Thanks for a lovely day.”
“Thanks for a lovely day,” he said.
“Thanks for a lovely day, he said, ”and I hope to see you again soon.”

7. With question tags

It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?
You don’t like coffee, do you?

8. With dates, numbers and addresses

The school year starts on Monday, 1st September.
It was 2,000 years ago.
The Prime Minister lives at 10 Downing Street, London.
He was born on November 14th, 1948, at Buckingham Palace.

(Although the commas around “1948” are often omitted in British English. We usually write the number first too: 14th November 1948.)

9. When using someone’s name

Thank you for your kind words, John.
Jane, would do you think?

10. To prevent any confusion

You’ve probably seen the most famous example of this:
Let’s eat Grandma!

This sounds like we are going to eat our Grandma!

We need a comma!

Let’s eat, Grandma.

But you already knew this! It’s rule 9.

Here’s another:

We ate chocolate cake and biscuits.
= We ate two things. One thing was chocolate cake. The other was biscuits.

but

We ate chocolate, cake and biscuits.
= We ate three things: one was chocolate, one was cake and one was biscuits.

You knew this too, right? Remember rule 1?

Last one.

This is not a good sentence:

He jumped up quickly hiding his phone in his pocket.

Did he jump up quickly or did he hide his phone quickly?

A comma can help here:

He jumped up quickly, hiding his phone in his pocket.
= He jumped up quickly.

but

He jumped up, quickly hiding his phone in his pocket.
= He hid his phone quickly.

More advanced points

The Oxford comma

As I mentioned before, we use commas to separate items in a list.

For example:

We made a fruit salad with pineapple, mango, grapes and kiwi fruit.
To improve your English, you should read more, practise speaking, watch videos and write regularly.

You could also put an extra comma before “and”, like this:

We made a fruit salad with pineapple, mango, grapes, and kiwi fruit.
To improve your English, you should read more, practise speaking, watch videos and write regularly.

This extra comma has a name - the Oxford comma - and people love to argue about it! But in the examples I’ve given, it really doesn’t matter. The sentences are correct with or without that extra comma.

However, there are some situations where the extra comma might change the meaning or make things clearer. Look at this sentence:

This book is dedicated to my parents, Alice and John.

Does this mean Alice and John are my parents? Or am I listing 4 people: Mum, Dad, Alice and John?

If I add a comma before “and”, it’s definitely a list of four people. Like this:

This book is dedicated to my parents, Alice, and John.

(And if Alice and John ARE your parents and you want to make it clear, you could write:

This book is dedicated to my parents: Alice and John.)

Here’s another example where it works better with the Oxford comma:

We ate soup, fish and chips, and fruit salad.

Without the comma - We ate soup, fish and chips and fruit salad - it looks a bit strange.

Also, if you’re doing academic writing or if you’re writing for a newspaper, you should follow their style guide. But for the rest of us, you can choose whether to add the extra comma or not.

I personally only add it if I think it makes the sentence clearer. That might be because I’m British. I believe British people are less likely to use the Oxford comma and Americans are more likely to use it.

Relative clauses

Compare these two sentences:

My brother, who lives in London, is visiting me next week.
and
My brother who lives in London is visiting me next week.

In the first sentence, I only have one brother. I can remove “who lives in London” because it’s not necessary. The sentence is still good without it.

In the second sentence, I have more than one brother and I’m explaining to you which brother is visiting me. It’s the one who lives in London, not the one who lives in Cambridge, for example.

“Who lives in London” is a relative clause.

In the first sentence, it’s a non-defining relative clause (or a non-essential relative clause).

In the second sentence, it’s a defining relative clause (or an essential relative clause) because I’m defining which brother I’m talking about.

You can read more and this and find more examples here.

British vs American English

In British English, we don’t usually use a comma in sentences like this:

I wanted to go for a walk but it started to rain.
She studied hard and she passed the exam.
We can watch a movie or we can go for a walk.
It started raining so we stayed inside.

Some style guides say you should, though.

In American English, they do use a comma:

I wanted to go for a walk, but it started to rain.
She studied hard, and she passed the exam.
We can watch a movie, or we can go for a walk.
It started raining, so we stayed inside.

This rule works for these linking words: for, and, nor, but, or, so, yet.

To remember this list, use the mnemonic FANBOYS. (F=for, A=and etc)

But remember, this is for American English, not British.

In British English, we generally don’t use a comma here unless it’s a long sentence and the comma helps the reader.

For example:

The phone I bought six years ago is getting slow now, and I think it’s time to buy a new one.

This sentence is OK without the comma, but the comma does break up the sentence and make it easier to read. (In fact, I’ve just done it again with this sentence! I put a comma before “but” to make it easier to read.)

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I hope you found today’s post helpful! There’s even more I could say about commas but this is already a long post! Maybe I’ll tell you more next week.

Bye for now!

Katie 💙

PS Conversation Club update

I’m starting a second conversation group!

This will probably be on Mondays at 9 am, UK time, although Fridays are another option.

If you’re in Asia, my 9 am is afternoon or evening for you! That’s why I wanted to start this second group. It’s hopefully a good time for anybody in Japan, China or Korea. But of course, anybody who is free is welcome to join.

You can ask Google to find out what time 9 am is in your country.

The cost is £40 for the first four lessons and we’ll meet once a week for one hour.

I have two ladies already. Who would like to join them?

The Wednesday group has one space left!

We meet at 5.00 pm, UK time, on Wednesdays, of course!

Let me know if you’d like the last space!