2.1.3

Commas

Test yourself

Using Commas to Express Meaning

You need to use commas to make sure your sentences have the correct meaning. Let's look at an example of how commas can affect meaning...

Illustrative background for <b>Let's eat Grandpa</b>Illustrative background for <b>Let's eat Grandpa</b> ?? "content

Let's eat Grandpa

  • Without a comma, this sentence means you want to eat Grandpa!
Illustrative background for <b>Let's eat, Grandpa</b>Illustrative background for <b>Let's eat, Grandpa</b> ?? "content

Let's eat, Grandpa

  • With a comma, this sentence means you want Grandpa to eat with you.
Illustrative background for <b>Why don't you sing Roxanne?Illustrative background for <b>Why don't you sing Roxanne? ?? "content

Why don't you sing Roxanne?

  • Without a comma, this question asks someone to sing a song called Roxanne.
Illustrative background for <b>Why don't you sing, Roxanne?Illustrative background for <b>Why don't you sing, Roxanne? ?? "content

Why don't you sing, Roxanne?

  • With a comma, this question means you are asking a person called Roxanne to sing.
Illustrative background for <b>Please call JasperIllustrative background for <b>Please call Jasper ?? "content

Please call Jasper

  • Without a comma, this sentence means you are asking someone to call Jasper.
Illustrative background for <b>Please call, JasperIllustrative background for <b>Please call, Jasper ?? "content

Please call, Jasper

  • With a comma, this sentence means you are asking Jasper to call you.

Using Commas for Lists

You need to use commas in lists to make it clear you are writing a list. Let's look at some examples to see why we use commas...

Illustrative background for List without commasIllustrative background for List without commas ?? "content

List without commas

  • The children found an acorn a newt conkers and smooth pebbles in the wood.
    • This sentence is very hard to read and very confusing!
Illustrative background for List with commasIllustrative background for List with commas ?? "content

List with commas

  • The children found an acorn, a newt, conkers and smooth pebbles in the wood.
    • See how much easier the sentence is to read with commas.
Illustrative background for List without commasIllustrative background for List without commas ?? "content

List without commas

  • The swimmer could do crawl backstroke breaststroke and butterfly beautifully.
    • This sentence is very hard to read and very confusing!
Illustrative background for List with commasIllustrative background for List with commas ?? "content

List with commas

  • The swimmer could do crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly beautifully.
    • See how much easier the sentence is to read with commas.
Illustrative background for List without commasIllustrative background for List without commas ?? "content

List without commas

  • The boy wanted a teddy bear a torch a book a shirt and some shoes for Christmas.
    • This sentence is very hard to read and very confusing!
Illustrative background for List with commasIllustrative background for List with commas ?? "content

List with commas

  • The boy wanted a teddy bear, a torch, a book, a shirt and some shoes for Christmas.
    • See how much easier the sentence is to read with commas.

Jump to other topics

1Spelling

1.1Spelling

1.1.1Hard 'U' & 'I' Sounds

1.1.2Words Ending in '-sure', & '-mure'

1.1.3Words Ending in '-sion'

1.1.4'Ei', 'Eigh' & 'Ey' Spellings

1.1.5Spelling Words with 'Ch'

1.1.6Spelling Words with 'Sc'

1.1.7Silent Letters

1.1.8i Before e Rule

1.1.9Hard & Soft 'c' Sounds

1.1.10End of Topic Test - Spelling

1.2Prefixes

1.2.1'Anti-' & 'Auto-'

1.2.2Not & 'Inter-'

1.2.3'Mis-', 'Dis-' & 'Re-'

1.2.4'Sub-' & 'Super-'

1.3Suffixes

1.3.1Vowel Suffixes

1.3.2Short Vowel Suffixes

1.3.3Suffixes: '-ous'

1.3.4Rules for Suffixes: '-ous'

1.3.5Rules for Suffixes: '-ous' 2

1.3.6Suffixes: '-ly'

1.3.7Suffixes: '-ation'

1.3.8Suffixes: '-ation' 2

1.3.9Spelling: '-tion' Endings

1.3.10Spelling: '-sion' Endings

1.3.11Spelling: '-ssion' Endings

1.3.12Spelling: '-cian' Endings

1.3.13End of Topic Test - Prefixes & Suffixes

1.4Making Words Plural

1.4.1Plurals

1.5Homophones

1.5.1Accept & Except

1.5.2Affect & Effect

1.5.3Ball & Bawl

1.5.4Berry & Bury

1.5.5Brake & Break

1.5.6Fair & Fare

1.5.7Grate & Great

1.5.8Groan & Grown

1.5.9Hear & Here

1.5.10Heal, Heel & He'll

1.5.11Knot & Not

1.5.12Mail & Male

1.5.13Main & Mane

1.5.14Meat & Meet

1.5.15Medal & Meddle

1.5.16Missed & Mist

1.5.17Peace & Piece

1.5.18Plain & Plane

1.5.19Rain & Reign & Rein

1.5.20Scene & Seen

1.5.21Weather & Whether

1.5.22Whose & Who's

1.5.23End of Topic Test - Homophones

1.6Word Meanings

1.6.1Homonyms

2Punctuation

2.1Punctuation

2.1.1Full Stops

2.1.2Capital Letters

2.1.3Commas

2.1.4Commas 2

2.1.5Using Apostrophes with Regular Plurals

2.1.6Using Apostrophes with Irregular Plurals

2.1.7Question Marks & Exclamation Marks

2.1.8Brackets

2.1.9Dashes

2.1.10Colon

2.1.11Semi-Colon

2.1.12Direct Speech

2.1.13Indirect Speech

2.1.14Hyphens

2.1.15Ellipses

2.1.16End of Topic Test - Punctuation

2.1.17End of Topic Test - Punctuation 2

2.2Writing Structure

2.2.1Paragraphs

2.2.2Headings & Subheadings

2.2.3Columns

2.2.4Bullets

2.2.5Tables

3Grammar

3.1Word Classes

3.1.1Nouns

3.1.2Pronouns

3.1.3Verbs

3.1.4Adjectives & Adverbs

3.1.5Qualifiers & Quantifiers

3.1.6Determiners

3.1.7Prepositions

3.1.8Synonyms & Antonyms

3.1.9End of Topic Test - Word Classes

3.2Conjunctions

3.2.1Coordinating Conjunctions

3.2.2Subordinating Conjunctions

3.3Writing Coherently

3.3.1Building Cohesion in Writing

3.3.2Avoiding Ambiguity in Writing

3.4Verbs

3.4.1Subject-verb Agreement

3.5Modal Verbs

3.5.1Modal Verbs

3.5.2Can & Could

3.5.3May & Might

3.5.4Should & Shall

3.5.5Will & Would

3.5.6Must & Have To

3.6Phrasal Verbs

3.6.1Phrasal Verbs

3.7Subjunctive Verbs

3.7.1Subjunctive Verbs

3.7.2End of Topic Test - Verbs

3.8Sentences

3.8.1Subject of a Sentence

3.8.2Object of a Sentence

3.8.3Main & Subordinate Clauses

3.8.4Simple Sentences & Compound Sentences

3.8.5Complex Sentences

3.8.6Relative Clauses

3.8.7Relative Clauses Without Relative Pronouns

3.8.8Participle Clauses

3.8.9Run-on Sentences

3.8.10Sentence Functions

3.8.11End of Topic Test - Sentences

3.9Tenses

3.9.1Present Tense

3.9.2Past Tense

3.9.3Past Tense Using Have

3.9.4Future Tense

3.9.5Present vs Past vs Future

3.9.6Continuity of Tenses

3.9.7End of Topic Test - Tenses

3.10Adverbials

3.10.1Adverbial

3.10.2Saying Where & When

3.10.3Saying How Often

3.10.4Saying How & Why

3.10.5Using Commas for Fronted Adverbials

3.11Language Techniques

3.11.1Figurative & Emotive Language

3.11.2Active & Passive Voice

3.11.3Idiomatic Expressions

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Capital Letters

Commas 2