Grammar Guide: When to Use a Comma
Nothing gets us in trouble more as a writer than misusing punctuation. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of what we are saying. To help you understand the basic rules, I am going to keep the sample sentences very basic. First rule: Any part of a sentence that can be deleted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence should have commas before and after that word, clause, or phrase. Example: Oslo, who is my smallest dog, is learning how to sit. Identify the core sentence: Oslo is learning how to sit. The fact that he is my smallest dog is a clause that can be deleted without changing that core sentence. This additional information is just a bonus for the reader. The clause needs to be separated by commas. If the wording being removed changes the meaning of the sentence, no commas are needed. Example: Dogs who are afraid of water wouldn’t like to swim in my lake. No commas should be put around who are afraid of water because that is key to the sentence. Without t...