Comma before like grammar girl book

Some people say to always use it and other people say to only use it when leaving it out would cause confusion. If youre joining two main clauses with a conjunctive adverb, you need a semicolon before that adverb, and a comma after. Commas can be tricky, but they dont have to trip you up. New york times bestselling author mignon fogarty shares her weekly grammar girl podcast and video tips about english, grammar, and writing. Remember, a main clause, also known as an independent clause, is just something that could be a complete sentence if it were all by itself. While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller break. My estate goes to my husband, son, daughterinlaw, and nephew.

Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. This chart from grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students gives examples of the 15 most common ways to use a comma. Like versus such as grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Grammar and punctuation the blue book of grammar and. When the last comma in a series comes before and or or after daughterinlaw in the above example, it is known as the oxford comma. If the specific examples arent essential to the accuracy of your sentence, then use a comma before such as and after your example, unless the example is at the very end of the sentence. If it is, i would like to be more enlightened, because, for a list of words that is three and above, comma would be used to separate list of the worlds until you get to the last two when you will use and to separate them. We like to plan our vacations around threeday weekends, such as labor day. The serial comma is the comma before the last and in a series. Most newspapers and magazines drop the oxford comma in a simple series, apparently feeling its unnecessary. Some writers think of a comma as a soft pausea punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a sentence.

Citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruits, are high in vitamin c. Use commas to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items. And in the following case, the sentence is ok either way, depending on the intended meaning. That adverb needs to be snuggled between a semicolon and a comma. Commas with appositives the definition of an appositive is a word or word group that defines or further identifies the noun or noun phrase preceding it. That last comma before the and is called a serial comma, oxford comma, or harvard comma.