Home of English Grammar

Free Guide (Updated for 2023)

  • Home
  • Download Lessons
  • Grammar Rules
  • Online Exercises
  • Online Tools
    • Grammar Checker
    • Word Counter
  • Guides
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Punctuation / Comma – Part II

Comma – Part II

November 19, 2010 - pdf

To separate adjectives used in the predicative position

Adjectives used in the predicative position are always separated by commas.

  • He is tall, dark and handsome.
  • That was a lovely, long, cool drink.

Sometimes commas are not used between the last two adjectives which are usually separated by a conjunction like and or or.

Commas are sometimes dropped between short adjectives.

In direct speech

A comma is generally used between a reporting verb and a piece of direct speech.

  • Looking at the painting, she said, ‘I like this one.’

If the reporting verb follows a piece of direct speech, we usually use a comma instead of a full stop before the closing quotation mark.

  • ‘I don’t like this,‘ said Jane.

Numbers

Large numbers are often divided into groups of three figures by using commas.

Examples are:

  • 5,768 (NOT 5.768)
  • 6, 567, 873

Commas are sometimes not used in four figure numbers.

  • 5,378 or 5378

Commas are never used in dates.

  • The Year 1953 (NOT The Year 1,953)

Cases where commas are not used

Commas are not used before that, what, where etc in indirect speech structures.

  • Nobody realized that the child was missing. (NOT Nobody realized, that the child …)
  • She didn’t know what to do. (NOT She didn’t know, what to do.)

Commas are not used between two grammatically independent sentences. Instead we use a full stop or a semicolon.

  • The blue dress was cheap. On the other hand, the pink dress was better. OR The blue dress was cheap; on the other hand, the pink dress was better. (NOT The blue dress was cheap, on the other hand, …)
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
1,279,746 
647,105 

Check Your Grammar

GrammarCheck.net - Try online
Hint → Bookmark GrammarCheck for future use.

Latest Exercises

  • Relative Pronouns Exercise September 29, 2023
  • Phrasal Verbs Exercise September 28, 2023
  • Gap Filling Vocabulary Exercise September 28, 2023
  • Correct or Incorrect September 26, 2023
  • No, None. Not September 22, 2023
  • Definite Article vs. No Article September 21, 2023
  • Irregular Plurals September 20, 2023
  • Color Idioms September 19, 2023
  • Animal Idioms September 18, 2023

Topics

  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Business Writing
  • Commas
  • Conjunctions
  • Creative Writing
  • Difference
  • Essay Writing
  • Exercises
  • Learning
  • Lessons
  • Nouns
  • Prepositions
  • Pronouns
  • Proofreading
  • Punctuation
  • Quiz
  • Spelling
  • Style Guide
  • Teaching
  • Terms
  • Verbs
  • Words
  • Writing

Quiz

  • Can you correct these 14 basic grammar mistakes?
  • What kind of writer are you?

Copyright © 2023 · EnglishGrammar.org
Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Sitemap