Using the comma
Image: by Benjamin Franklin (public domain)
Most writers can be divided neatly into 2 camps: those who use too many commas and those who do not use enough. I use too many.
The result in both cases is confusion. This is ironic, because confusion is just what our curly little friend is intended to avoid.
There’s an almost limitless range of conditional prescriptions to dictate comma usage, but I’ve boiled them down to a few of the most useful.
Use a comma to:
separate items in a list (‘Remember to bring shoes, shorts and socks.’)
mark off non-defining clauses or phrases (A defining clause contains information that is integral to the subject of the sentence. A non-defining clause contains information that isn’t.) ‘All the players, who are now recovering in hospital, deny involvement in the hotel incident.’ (Consider how the meaning of this sentence would change with the commas removed.)
eliminate possible ambiguity (‘He was not run over, mercifully.’)
mark off parenthetic expressions (‘In the meantime, despite the continuing discussions, disaster was becoming inevitable.’).
Note that the Americans would include a comma after ‘shorts’ in the first example above. I would too, as I think it’s more logical. Australian style guides, however, feel differently, so it’s tough luck for me.
As the above paragraph demonstrates, there are plenty of instances where there can be no solid justification either for or against the use of a comma – it’s just a matter of personal taste. In this respect, the comma represents a rare opportunity in the drab field of punctuation for the author to cavort as proudly as a peacock, displaying the brightly coloured plumage of his or her personality for the delectation of the reader. So let yourself go.
