The most misused punctuation marks are probably commas, exclamation points, and ellipses. Use commas to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items. She has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show. Comma Before As Well As. When you use a string of adjectives, you often separate the adjectives with commas, as in “He is tall, dark, and handsome.” Sometimes, though, you don’t use a comma between two adjectives. Last week Dale Seiler on Twitter sent me a screenshot of a Garmin ad that had a strange and unnecessary comma in the middle of the tagline. Basically my wife was immature. Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Commas: Oxford, Appositive, Nonrestrictive, How to Avoid a Common Comma Error: The Comma Splice. Another thing that makes them confusing is that some things are hard-and-fast rules—like don’t put a comma between a subject and a verb—and other things are more like guidelines, as Jack Sparrow says of the pirate code in Pirates of the Caribbean. A more accurate title would probably be "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Grammar". In past Grammar Girl episodes, I’ve talked about how to use the words “which” and “that” with restrictive and nonrestrictive elements. Comma rules can be confusing. She has appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show. (Playwright Oscar Wilde) Grammarlookup.com uses artificial intelligence to check grammar and punctuation mistakes in your writing, eliminate spelling errors and highlight 1000s of style issues to make your writing exceptional among other writers, Ease of Use and faster checking makes it the best proofreader for everyone, it’s Free and will Always be, Try it. But the Garmin ad violates a hard-and-fast rule, not a guideline. This sentence means that Adele sings better than I do. This chart from Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students gives examples of the 15 most common ways to use a comma. 01:11 Take out what's between the commas, and the sentence won't buckle. Press J to jump to the feed. Comma Tip 6 (Commas with Coordinate and Noncoordinate Adjectives) Comma Tip 7 (Commas with So vs. David, John, and Joshua had the opportunity to play golf over the long weekend. We are currently experiencing playback issues on Safari. Commas Quiz 1 from The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. There are many rules that tell us how commas should be used, but don't let it scare you. Grammar Girl Presents the Ultimate Writing Guide for Students, Commas: Oxford, Appositive, and Nonrestrictive, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Commas: Oxford, Appositive, Nonrestrictive. When it comes to colons, Grammar Girl writes that you should be able to replace a colon with the word ‘namely’. Do you use commas like confetti? My guess is that one of two things is going on. There weren't a whole lot of actual writing tips, with the exception of a short chapter near the end with advice like "avoid cliches like the plague". In this podcast i learned a few things for each one. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts 25 sec read 4,705 Views Ed Good — Grammar Tips. I'd be at home in my bath, and she'd come in and sink my boats. If a sentence has three or more short, closely related independent clauses, separate them with commas, and put a comma before the conjunction: The employees filed their complaint, the committee heard the arguments, and the company awaited the final decision. She is an inductee in the Podcasting Hall of Fame, and the show is a five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards. 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