Punctuation is tough and as a female entrepreneur who creates a lot of content – social, emails, website, blogs – you want to make sure you are using your punctuation marks in the right way. This blog post details how to use a comma and provides examples of how to do so.
Punctuation is meant to help the reader understand what you are saying; it is a tool to help organize your sentences. If you use it correctly, it’s almost undetectable and helps, but if you use it incorrectly or don’t use it at all, it creates confusion for the reader and makes your content difficult to read and understand. So let’s learn how to use a comma.
How to Use a Comma
1. DATES
A comma is used in dates to separate the year if it follows the month and day.
Example:
May 6, 1979.
2. AROUND A NAME
Examples:
Tracy, why do you like copywriting?
If you like copywriting, Tracy, then you’ll love editing.
3. IN A LIST
A comma is used in a list when three or more things are listed.
Examples:
I like tea, ice cream, chocolate, and family.
My favourite types of flowers are tulips, lilacs and hydrangeas.
*You will notice that in the first example, I put a comma before the ‘and’ and in the second example I do not. Both of these are correct and is personal preference. Just be sure to be consistent throughout.
4. TO REPLACE THE WORD ‘AND’
When you are describing something with two adjectives (describing words), you can choose to replace the word ‘and’ with a comma instead.
Examples:
The cold, sweet ice cream tasted so good on a hot day.
The hot, humid day was so nice after a long winter.
5. MID-SENTENCE
A comma is used mid-sentence to separate the introduction portion of a sentence from the following portion of the sentence. Using a comma in this way helps the flow of the sentence and the reader digest the information you are providing.
Examples:
Before the beginning of each workday, I enjoy a cup of English Breakfast tea.
After dinner in the summer, ice cream is always a nice treat to have.
Do these examples make sense? Have these tips helped you better understand how and where to use a comma? If you want more help with your grammar and punctuation, I highly recommend checking out The Grammar Girl and/or installing the program ‘Grammarly’ on your computer – both extremely helpful!
Have a question about commas? Drop it in the comments and I’ll try to help!
From my kitchen table to yours,
Tracy Smith is a professional copywriter, brand strategist and the Founder of Kitchen Table CEOs. Through tips, writing templates and one-on-one consulting services, Tracy helps women entrepreneurs create the content, brand and online presence they need to launch and grow their business. For more information on her services and how to work with her, please click HERE.
