3-1 Punctuation: The Comma

We use the comma...

To separate words, phrases or clauses in a list.

• She purchased cream, eggs, butter, salt and flour.
• We looked in the basement, under the porch, behind the shed and in the attic.
• Russia won the gold medal, China took home the silver, and Germany came in third place with the bronze.

To link two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction (and,but, so, or, for, nor, yet)

• He said he was going to win, and I believed him.
• She can speak Japanese fairly well, yet she cannot read a word of it.

After an introductory word, phrase, or clause.

• However, most citizens did not agree with the new policy.
• In my opinion, it was not his best performance.
• Because he had no experience, he did not get the position.

To add a word, phrase or clause into the middle, or at the end, of a sentence.

• Most citizens, however, did not agree with the new policy.
• It was not, in my opinion, his best performance.
• The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which is located on the Halifax waterfront, boasts one of the world’s finest collections of artifacts from the Titanic.

To separate information in dates.

• She was born on Friday, June 16, 1983.

To separate information in an address.

• Send a self-addressed envelope to 98 Torwood Street, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, E1B 2K5.

With quotation marks.

• “Try again tomorrow,” he suggested.
• “When I give you the signal,” she whispered, “press this button.”