{"id":1950,"date":"2018-01-06T16:27:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T16:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/uncategorized\/what-is-a-comma-921\/"},"modified":"2019-09-23T13:59:29","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:59:29","slug":"what-is-a-comma-921","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a comma?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question<\/h2>\n

What is a comma?<\/p>\n

Answer<\/h2>\n

A comma is a punctuation mark (,) which has two primary purposes (though there are a multitude of other rules for its use in different contexts):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. To separate clauses.
    \nA clause is a set of words which express a complete idea. For example, \u2018I went to France\u2019 is an independent clause (a clause which makes sense on its own and requires no further context). Commas separate dependent and independent clauses; a dependent clause is one which cannot stand alone and needs to be attached to an independent clause to make sense. For example, \u2018which I thought was a beautiful country\u2019 is a dependent clause: it does not make sense without understanding which country we are referring to. Putting the two together and separating them with a comma would create the sentence:
    \n\u2018I went to France, which I thought was a beautiful country.\u2019
    \nThe two clauses are closely interrelated, so should not be split with a full stop, but inserting the comma acknowledges that they are separate clauses.<\/li>\n
  2. To separate items in a list.
    \nWhen listing several items, it is important to insert commas to ensure that it is clear what the items are. This can help avoid ambiguity about items in the list. For example:
    \n\u2018I\u2019d like to order fish and chips and steak and chips with peas and gravy and the fish pie and mash and Spaghetti Bolognese please.\u2019
    \nIn this sentence, it is not entirely clear where one item\u2019 (in this context, one meal) ends and another begins. Adding commas in between each item can clarify this by replacing some of the uses of \u2018and\u2019:
    \n\u2018I\u2019d like to order fish and chips, steak and chips with peas and gravy, the fish pie and mash, and Spaghetti Bolognese, please.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    References<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is a comma?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is a comma?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is a comma?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is a comma?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is a comma?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ask an Academic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-06T16:27:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-23T13:59:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/education.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"AskanAcademic.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"AskanAcademic.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is a comma?","description":"What is a comma?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is a comma?","og_description":"What is a comma?","og_url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/","og_site_name":"Ask an Academic","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/","article_published_time":"2018-01-06T16:27:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-23T13:59:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/education.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"AskanAcademic.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"AskanAcademic.com","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/"},"author":{"name":"AskanAcademic.com","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88d510b2a53ef0ce64579418a0c55dde"},"headline":"What is a comma?","datePublished":"2018-01-06T16:27:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-23T13:59:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/"},"wordCount":302,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/education.jpg","articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/","name":"What is a comma?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/education.jpg","datePublished":"2018-01-06T16:27:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-23T13:59:29+00:00","description":"What is a comma?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/education.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/education.jpg","width":1280,"height":853,"caption":"Teaching a class of students"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/education\/what-is-a-comma-921\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is a comma?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/","name":"Ask an Academic","description":"Academic Q&A","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#organization","name":"Ask an Academic","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aaa-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aaa-logo.png","width":1677,"height":1677,"caption":"Ask an Academic"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ask-an-Academic-571412300039347\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88d510b2a53ef0ce64579418a0c55dde","name":"AskanAcademic.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2c5b73f861f961c4a7fd212308b6a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/be2c5b73f861f961c4a7fd212308b6a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"AskanAcademic.com"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/askanacademic.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/askanacademic.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}