Punctuation Primer, Part II: Correct Comma Usage

The comma separates ideas or items. Your high-school English teacher may have told you that you should insert a comma whenever you would pause in a sentence. This is incorrect. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to correct a writer about this, I’d be able to buy some great designer shoes. There are definite rules for comma usage, and, as you’ll notice below, “use when you’d take a pause or breath” is not one of them. Keep the following tips handy for when you have questions about comma usage.

• Use commas to separate items in a simple series.
  • Three things that vampires fear are holy water, crucifixes and sunlight.
• Formal English retains what is called the serial comma — the comma before the conjunction (and, or) in a series. AP Style drops the serial comma unless the series includes one or more items that also include a conjunction.
  • Buffy hunted vampires, demons and spirits, and werewolves.
• Also retain the serial comma in a complex series.
  • Buffy prepared for vampire patrol by packing her favorite wooden stake, donning her silver crucifix necklace, and putting on comfortable shoes.
• Use a comma to separate equal adjectives — adjectives that could also be separated with the word “and.”
  • He was an evil, smelly demon.
• Do not use a comma to separate adjectives when the adjective immediately preceding the noun is a necessary part of the noun phrase.
  • Buffy always carried a large wooden stake wherever she went.
• Nonessential clauses — clauses that add extra information but are not vital to the meaning of the sentence — are always set off with commas.
  • She battled what she called Big Bads, the most evil of creatures, on a regular basis.
• Essential clauses — clauses that add vital information to a sentence — are never set off with commas.
  • Tired of her life as a vampire slayer and mourning the loss of her lover, Buffy left the small town where her mother and friends lived.
• Use a comma to separate an introductory phrase or clause.
  • After her death, Buffy’s friends came up with a plan to bring her back.
• Use a comma to separate two independent clauses — clauses that could also stand alone as separate complete sentences.
  • Buffy and Giles prepared Thanksgiving dinner for their friends, but the meal was interrupted when a dead Chumash tribe crashed through the windows and doors.
• Do not use a comma before a conjunction linking a dependent clause, which cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.
  • Xander always had a crush on Buffy but finally overcame it when he started dating Anya.
• Use a comma after an interjection or direct address.
  • Yes, Buffy and her friends had great adventures.
  • Mom, what do you mean you’ve never watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”?
• When introducing quotations, use a comma before the attribution.
  • Buffy said, “The fast-growing field of personal grooming has come a long way since you became a vampire.”
• But do not use a comma to introduce an indirect or partial quote.
  • Buffy’s sarcastic sense of humor showed up frequently, like when she said Spike had a “sinister attraction.”
• Commas are always placed inside the quotation marks.
  • “The important thing is that I kept up my special birthday tradition of gut-wrenching misery and horror,” Buffy said.
  • When they said “Big Bad,” sometimes Buffy and her friends meant really big.
• Other usages:
  • Buffy Summers, 19, was orphaned and left to care for her younger sister.
  • Giles traveled from London, England, to Sunnydale, Calif., to become Buffy’s watcher.
  • Buffy has slain 4,137 demons so far.
  • Joss Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” television series first aired on March 10, 1997, on the WB network.