Commas

In this module you will learn the four main uses of commas.

Why?

Commas enable you to:
1. Make numbers, place-names, and dates clear.
2. Indicate when you are quoting (exactly) the words of someone else.
3. Separate words that are parts of lists in sentences.
4. Build sentences that contain multiple parts by:
  • adding one sentence onto the end of another.
  • adding additional information to a sentence's main idea.
How?

Click the “LearnIt” tabs to the left to learn about the four main uses of commas described above.

Punctuation

Comma Use 1

Using commas to make numbers, place-names, and dates clear.
- - When you write numbers, use commas
    to separate the digits in numbers higher than 999.
  - In the U.S. the convention is for commas to seperate every three digits for numbres higher than 999.In any number higher than 999, the comma goes in by counting three from the right. The comma placement is the same for numbers representing quantities of objects or of money.
  - Here are examples of commas in numbers in sentences.
    
    How had 9,125 relatively uneventful days passed so quickly, and how might I slow the days ahead?
    
    In 1889 more than 3,000,000 acres in the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, were opened to non-Indian homesteaders, so that a territory that had held virtually no non-Indians in 1880 had 730,000 in 1990.
    
    Here is comma use with large numbers when money is at issue.
    
    On the $65,000,000 bond sale, Morgan and Belmont made a perfectly legal profit somewhere between $1,500,000 and $16,000,000; no one outside the banks knew exactly how much.
  - There are no commas in numbers that represent years.
    
    In 2009, $224 would have had the same purchasing power as $100 did in 1980.
    
    It is also convention not to use commas in street addresses:
    
    20419 West Second Street
- - When you write about a location and the larger place of which it is a part --
    -- such as a neighborhood in a city, a city in a state, a state (or province or
    department) in a country -- separate the two place-names with a comma.
  - Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
    
    East Side, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
    
    South Central, Los Angeles, California, United States
    
    Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States
    
    Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    
    Educandos, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
    
    La Mission, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
    
    Poctol, Unisan, Quezon, Philippines
    
    Neighborhood. comma. city.
    
    Algiers comma New Orleans
    
    East Side comma Milwaukee
    
    Kitsilano comma Vancouver
    
    Educandos comma Manaus
  - Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
    
    East Side, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
    
    South Central, Los Angeles, California, United States
    
    Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States
    
    Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    
    Educandos, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
    
    La Mission, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
    
    Poctol, Unisan, Quezon, Philippines
    
    City. comma. State or Province.
    
    New Orleans comma Louisiana
    
    Milwaukee comma Wisconsin
    
    Vancouver comma British Columbia
    
    Manaus comma Amazonas
  - Algiers, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
    
    East Side, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
    
    South Central, Los Angeles, California, United States
    
    Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States
    
    Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    
    Educandos, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
    
    La Mission, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
    
    Poctol, Unisan, Quezon, Philippines
    
    State or province. comma. Country.
    
    Louisiana comma United States
    
    Wisconsin comma United States
    
    British Columbia comma Canada
    
    Amazonas comma Brazil
- - In the United States, there are three common formats for written dates,
    only one of which requires a comma.
  - Month. day. comma. year.
    
    February 17. comma. 1951
    
    March 1. comma. 1963
    
    July 28. comma. 1979
    
    November 1. comma. 2009
  - February 1951
    
    March 1963
    
    July 1979
    
    November 2009
    
    In February 1912 La Follette delivered an angry, rambling, and — according to some — drunken speech at an important dinner for newspaper publishers, extinguishing whatever chances he had had for gaining the Republican nomination.
    
    Month. year.
    
    February 1951
    
    March 1963
    
    July 1979
    
    November 2009
  - 1 Jan. 2012
    
    16 Apr. 2025
    
    28 July 1979
    
    14 Oct. 1066
    
    17 Feb. 1951
    
    18 May 1855
    
    17 Aug. 1966
    
    1 Nov. 2009
    
    1 Mar. 1963
    
    11 June 2015
    
    23 Sep. 1954
    
    21 Dec. 2012
    
    Hayden, Teresa Nielsen. "Yo, Wocky Jivvy, Wergle Flomp. "Making Light. N.p., 29 June 2005. Web. 25 May 2010.
    
    Use this format in any Works Cited list you write in MLA format.
    
    Use this format in any Works Cited list you write in MLA format.
    
    one. January. 2012
    
    sixteen. April. 2025
    
    twenty-eight. July. 1979
    
    fourteen. October. 1066
- After you click START, use the MOUSE to move the the comma shooter back and forth. Click to shoot commas into their convertional places in the words that will appear.
  
  (You can shoot a comma to knock another comma out of place.)
  
  Start
  
  Done
Punctuation

Comma Use 2

Using commas to indicate when you are quoting (exactly) someone else’s words.
- Commas in Quotations
- - When you embed someone else’s spoken or written words into your own, use commas to separate the words you are quoting from the words that signal you are quoting.
    
    The pattern examples
    
    "I've got to sing. comma. he said hoarsely. period."
    
    One researcher noted. comma. quote. humans use a much more varied range of exploration methods than computers. period."
  - When the quotation goes at the beginning of your sentence
    
    "Keep the hard hat on," she said to me when we parked.
    
    When the quotation goes at the end of your sentence
    
    As the poet W.H. Auden put it, "The chances are that, in the course of his lifetime, the major poet will write more bad poems than the minor."
    
    In the first case, notice that the comma goes inside the quotation mark and before the she said phrase. In the second case, the comma goes after the (equivalent of the) she said phrase, before and outside the quotation mark.
  - You can break up the words of others for effect:
    
    "Why," asks Jonathan Burt, "should the rat be such an apt figure for horror and the target of so much hatred and loathing?"
    
    Note that there are two commas used here. The first comma goes inside the quotation marks and before the (equivalent of the) he said phrase. The second comma goes after the (equivalent of the) he said phrase, before and outside the quotation mark.
  - These examples use no comma before the quoted words because the quoted words are not complete sentences:
    
    In describing the cityscape of Paris, Fox Talbot says that photography "chronicles whatever it sees," noting the complex and jumbled array of chimney pots and lightning rods in the photographs.
    
    She finally cobbled together some mumbo-jumbo about a "man from the West" who would "walk on water to the East."
  - The following example starts in the usual way, with a comma following "observed"— but notice that there are two complete sentences being quoted, separated by a period.
    
    The cop observed, "In the older generations we didn't even drink a beer. If your parents smelled a beer on you, oh my God, you were grounded for a year!"
    
    In the next example, because the he said breaks up the sentence being quoted, the he said has a comma before it:
    
    "It was the sociological nadir of the American spirit," a Pepsi executive recalls. "Protests. Woodstock. Drugs. A surly and sullen generation occupying the dean's office, burning it down. It was all that sixties stuff."
- After you click START, you will see a sentence and three choices of punctuation. Click the choice that uses commas and quotation marks conventionally, then click DONE.
  
  Start
  
  It's just me, a chain saw, and a log she said.
  
  “It's just me, a chain saw, and a log”, she said.
  
  “It's just me, a chain saw, and a log”. she said.
  
  “It's just me, a chain saw, and a log,” she said.
  
  The fan behind me was yelling Arriba, Puyol! - the Spanish version of Go! or Charge!
  
  The fan behind me was yelling, “Arriba, Puyol!” - the Spanish version of Go! or Charge!
  
  The fan behind me was yelling. “Arriba, Puyol!” - the Spanish version of Go! or Charge!
  
  The fan behind me was yelling“ ,Arriba, Puyol!” - the Spanish version of Go! or Charge!
  
  Your eyes she says look at some things through your heart
  
  “Your eyes,” she says, “look at some things through your heart”.
  
  “Your eyes,” she says, “look at some things through your heart.”
  
  “Your eyes”, she says, “look at some things through your heart.”
  
  I'm not hungry Ke$ha said. I'm trying to go for the lost-member-of-Whitesnake vibe
  
  “I'm not hungry”, Ke$ha said. “I'm trying to go for the lost-member-of-Whitesnake vibe.”
  
  “I'm not hungry,” Ke$ha said. “I'm trying to go for the lost-member-of-Whitesnake vibe.”
  
  “I'm not hungry,” Ke$ha said. “I'm trying to go for the lost-member-of-Whitesnake vibe”.
  
  After having driven across Africa, he noted that You go into the bush, and you find these little villages, and football is the center of everything
  
  After having driven across Africa, he noted that“ ,You go into the bush, and you find these little villages, and football is the center of everything.”
  
  After having driven across Africa, he noted that, “You go into the bush, and you find these little villages, and football is the center of everything”.
  
  After having driven across Africa, he noted that, “You go into the bush, and you find these little villages, and football is the center of everything.”
  
  One of the solar plane's creators said that his team made the record-breaking plane, to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy and clean technologies and to promote them amongst the public
  
  One of the solar plane's creators said that his team made the record-breaking plane, “to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy and clean technologies and to promote them amongst the public,”
  
  One of the solar plane's creators said that his team made the record-breaking plane, “to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy and clean technologies and to promote them amongst the public.”
  
  One of the solar plane's creators said that his team made the record-breaking plane, “to demonstrate the potential of renewable energy and clean technologies and to promote them amongst the public”,
  
  The auto industry and the print industry have essentially the same problem said Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody. The older customers like the older products and the new customers like the new ones
  
  “The auto industry and the print industry have essentially the same problem”, said Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody.
  “The older customers like the older products and the new customers like the new ones.”
  
  “The auto industry and the print industry have essentially the same problem,” said Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody.
  “The older customers like the older products and the new customers like the new ones”.
  
  “The auto industry and the print industry have essentially the same problem,” said Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody.
  “The older customers like the older products and the new customers like the new ones.”
  
  American business is about maximizing shareholder value said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics. You basically don't want workers. You hire less, and you try to find capital equipment to replace them
  
  “American business is about maximizing shareholder value,” said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics. “You basically don't want workers. You hire less, and you try to find capital equipment to replace them”.
  
  “American business is about maximizing shareholder value”, said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics. “You basically don't want workers. You hire less, and you try to find capital equipment to replace them.”
  
  “American business is about maximizing shareholder value,” said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics. “You basically don't want workers. You hire less, and you try to find capital equipment to replace them.”
  
  A woman without health insurance who gets a breast cancer diagnosis is at least 40 percent more likely to die than one with insurance said John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society.
  
  “A woman without health insurance who gets a breast cancer diagnosis is at least 40 percent more likely to die than one with insurance.” said John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society.
  
  “A woman without health insurance who gets a breast cancer diagnosis is at least 40 percent more likely to die than one with insurance,” said John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society.
  
  “A woman without health insurance who gets a breast cancer diagnosis is at least 40 percent more likely to die than one with insurance”, said John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society.
  
  The laws should discourage adults from treating children they have parented as expendable when their adult relationships fall apart Florida's top court held in a 2007 paternity decision, quoting a law professor. It is the adults who can and should absorb the pain of betrayal rather than inflict additional betrayal on the involved children
  
  “The laws should discourage adults from treating children they have parented as expendable when their adult relationships fall apart,” Florida's top court held in a 2007 paternity decision, quoting a law professor. “It is the adults who can and should absorb the pain of betrayal rather than inflict additional betrayal on the involved children”.
  
  “The laws should discourage adults from treating children they have parented as expendable when their adult relationships fall apart,” Florida's top court held in a 2007 paternity decision, quoting a law professor. “It is the adults who can and should absorb the pain of betrayal rather than inflict additional betrayal on the involved children.”
  
  “The laws should discourage adults from treating children they have parented as expendable when their adult relationships fall apart”, Florida's top court held in a 2007 paternity decision, quoting a law professor. ”It is the adults who can and should absorb the pain of betrayal rather than inflict additional betrayal on the involved children.”
  
  Choice 1
  
  Choice 2
  
  Choice 3
  
  DONE
Punctuation

Comma Use 3

Using commas to separate words that are parts of lists in sentences
- Commas in Lists
- - If you are combining three or more nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases, or clauses, follow this pattern: item 1. comma. item 2. comma. and. item 3.
    
    For example:
    
    She grinned, ran, and dove into the water.
    
    or
    
    The audience sing-along was short, flaccid, and unenthusiastic.
    
    This pattern can be expanded to include any number of items:
    
    In the past week we had rain, hail, snow, and a desire for springtime.
  - You need hats. comma. mittens. comma. boots. comma. and gloves for winter. period.
  - We find ourselves entering a realm of fantasy. comma. imagination. comma. and paradox. period.
  - In my circle of acquaintances, the appropriate form of greeting is an email or, for extremely intimate acquaintainces, perhaps a light. comma. warm. comma. sweet. comma. and delicate email. period.
  - Furious, Buffmeier walked through the front door. comma. shook his fist at the sky. and exited to the back. period.
- After you click START, drage the "word magnets" to the green diamond to build complete sentences. You must drag the words and punctuation in order. When you have a sentence, click DONE.
  
  Start
  
  Done
Punctuation

Comma Use 4.1

Using commas to add one sentence onto the end of another.
- Commas for Building Compound Sentences
- - When you combine two sentences, one convention of written English is to put a comma and then a coordinating conjunction between the two.
    
    The pattern is: independent clause. plus. comma. plus. coordinating conjunction. plus. independent clause. plus. period.
  - I tried to draw him out, but it saddens Hugh to discuss his childhood monkey.
    
    The sweaters I've made aren't impressive specimens, but they've taught me a lot.
    
    In 1880 there were 3,000 factory hands at Baldwin, and by 1900 there were more than 8,000.
    
    Several selective pressures may act simultaneously on trees, so it is difficult to tease apart the contributions these different pressures make to tree evolution.
    
    It sounds like something you'd read on a movie poster, but sometimes the sins you haven't committed are all that you have to hold onto.
    
    Like most Kenyans, I was not taught in school about my culture or about the things my parents learned from their parents, yet I was taught about the American Revolution, Niagara Falls, and the Second World War.
  - When you combine sentences, you want to avoid comma splices, which are not appropriate for formal writing. For example: if you were to combine these two sentences - In this section of my paper I will focus on flourescent biological examples. and. The techniques can be applied to material sciences. - with only a comma and no coordinating conjunction. - you would have a comma splice! Adding a coordinating conjunction like and, but, or, for, nor, so or yet turns a comma splice into a conventional sentence.
- independent clause + + coordinating conjunction + independent clause .
  
  Start
  
  After you click START, drag the “magnets” into the white box to build as many sentences as you can before the timer stops. To build sentences, you must drag the magnets in the expected order shown above. The sentences you build will appear in this space.
  
  You've made
  0
  sentences.
  
  clear
  
  Noah didn't shave Marina didn't study Grandma ate sushi Martha hit the wall Jessica got a new job Anne wished to sleep Jenna laughed heartily David took photographs Emily threw water balloons Eric painted Brian made pie , , , . . . so yet or for and but
Punctuation

Comma Use 4.2

Using commas to add additional information to the main idea of a sentence.
- Commas for Adding Information
- - You can add additional information to a sentence's beginning, middle, or end — and most such additions require commas.
    
    Original Sentence
    
    I play the drums.
    
    Amended Sentence
    
    I. comma. who have no musical sense. comma. play the drums. comma. on occasion. period.
  - I, who have no musical sense, play the drums.
    
    Additional Information Example
    
    In my dreams. comma. I. comma. who have no musical sense. comma. play the drums. period.
    
    If you can remove a phrase from a sentence without changing the basic idea of the sentence, separate the phrase from the rest of the sentence with commas.
    
    Each of the additions to "I play the drums" gives us a different sense of how "I play the drums" - but if you took away all the additions, you would still understand the basic idea of the sentence.
    
    If you can remove information from a sentence without harming a reader's ability to understand the basic idea, then the information is additional.
    
    From here on, we will call such additional information nonessential information, since that it is its conventional grammatical name.
  - Unlike many other producers who step up to the mic, Kanye is also an extremely talented mc who flexes a relaxed but focused flow that's never short on clever lyrics.
    
    At the time of her husband's assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln had already buried two young sons.
    
    As unions waxed stronger after 1886, the number of strikes to enforce union rules grew steadily.
    
    Once upon a time, I was one of those nerds who hung around Radio Shack and played with LEDs, resistors, and capacitors.
    
    Even in the harsh penal environment of early America, some colonists had laws against feeding lobsters to inmates because it was thought to be cruel and unusual, like making people eat rats.
    
    Note, in each case, how the nonessential phrase is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
  - Interjections
    
    Explanatory words
    
    Appositives
    
    Is it essential?
    
    Interjections
    
    Short interjections of words can add a conversational tone to writing. Such interjections remind readers that a person wrote the words, so interjections can help writers build relationships with their readers.
    
    Put a comma before and after such interjections.
    
    Dirt, it seems, is an important ingredient in particle physics experiments.
    
    Some sequels, as we all know, are better than the originals.
    
    Let me clarify two points that will, I hope, make clear our disagreements.
    
    Explanatory Words
    
    When you use explanatory words and phrases such as "though" and "for example," set them of by commas.
    
    Once I'm awake, though, I tend to lie there wondering if I've made a terrible mistake.
    
    Among Plains tribes, for example, certain forms of design knowledge, such as quill embroidery, and beadwork, are sacred.
    
    Put a comma before and after such words and phrases - but do not put commas around "though" if it introduces a phrase:
    
    Though she had already been executed, Joan of Arc was acquitted on July 7, 1456.
    
    Appositives
    
    Appositives are phrases that come after a noun and give more information about the noun. Put commas around appositives.
    
    Aunty Lau, an accomplished weaver, teaches Hawaiian culture in schools.
    
    My son, who is eleven, has a memory like wet cement.
    
    The Space Shuttle, on track and on schedule, came into view just after 5:15 AM Pacific Time.
    
    We know from research that dogs, even kennel-raised puppies, do much better than wolves or chimpanzees in responding to human cues in food-finding tests.
    
    Watch the animation below to learn how to tell when information is essential or nonessential.
    
    First decide exactly what you want readers to take from your sentence.
    
    All this took place in New York City which is insanely expensive.
    
    I want to emphasize some recent events in New York
    
    This website is dedicated to women who died in the Vietnam War.
    
    I want readers to think about women who died in this war.
    
    Second, identify the information that might be inessential
    
    All this took place in New York City which is insanely expensive.
    
    I have identified the phrase "which is insanley expensive" as being inessential
    
    This website is dedicated to women who died in the Vietnam War.
    
    I have identified the phrase "who died in the Vietnam War" as being inessential
    
    Third, remove the information you identified.
    
    Fourth, ask: Does this sentence still tell readers what you want?
    
    All this took place in New York City.
    
    Yes, this sentence still conveys my main idea
    
    This website is dedicated to women.
    
    No! This sentence completely loses what I wanted readers to know!
    
    Fifth, If you answered yes, the information is nonessential and needs commas. If you answered no, the information is essential and needs no commas.
    
    All this took place in New York City. comma. which is insanely expensive.
    
    Yes! A comma was needed
    
    This website is dedicated to women who died in the Vietnam War.
    
    No! A comma was not needed
  - You can add additional information to a sentences' beginning, middle, or end — and most such additions require commas.
    
    Dogs are said to be the first domesitcated animals,displacing pigs for primal honors.
    
    I used to play that song over and over when I was nine,the year I really became aware of my own existence.
    
    Shani Davis stood out as a rare African American in mostly white sport,supported by a single mother who helped bulldozeany barriers she sensed were in front of him.
    
    Knitting is a skill that has come in handy throughout my life,mostly because I am so afflicted with the Protestant work ethic that I can't bear to watch television unless I am doingsomething productive with my hands.
    
    Show nonessential information
    
    Note, in each case, how the nonessential phrase is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
- Click START, then use the left-right and up-down ARROW KEYS on your keyboard to move the comma placer. When you have the comma where you want it, press the SPACE BAR. (Pressing the space bar a second time removes the comma.) When the commas are where you want, click DONE.
  
  Start
  
  Done

Neighborhood. comma. city.

City. comma. State or Province.

State or province. comma. Country.

Month. day. comma. year.

Month. year.

Use this format in any Works Cited list you write in MLA format.

The pattern examples

Original Sentence

Amended Sentence

Additional Information Example

Interjections

Explanatory Words

Appositives

First decide exactly what you want readers to take from your sentence.

Second, identify the information that might be inessential

Third, remove the information you identified.

Fourth, ask: Does this sentence still tell readers what you want?

Fifth, If you answered yes, the information is nonessential and needs commas. If you answered no, the information is essential and needs no commas.