The Comma Has Been Around for More than 500 Years – Are You Using It Right?

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Commas have been around since the 15th Century, yet a lot of people don’t know how to use them. Do you?

Birth of the Comma
When Aldus Manutius was printing books in the 1490s, writers used the slash mark / to indicate a pause in speech. Back then, the slash mark designated a short pause while a dot (period) signified a hard stop. Manutius lowered the slash mark in relation to the line of text, and gave it a bit of curve.

Today, the comma changes in appearance across various font formats, but it is still the go-to punctuation mark writers use to break up text. What’s less universal, though, are the rules of when to use the comma.

8 Basic Rules for Comma Use
1. When Writing Dates
Use commas in dates to separate the date and the year, or dubai cell phone number list to separate the day of the week and the date.

Examples:

Wednesday, January 1st

January 1, 2020

2. Writing Locations
Plop a comma between the city and state, or the city and country

Examples:

Chicago, IL

London, England

3. After an introductory element
Use a comma after an introductory element to reduce confusion (and sometimes, embarrassment)

Correct Example:

Let’s eat, Grandma!

Incorrect Example:

Let’s eat Grandma!

4. To Separate quotes
Commas separate quotes from the rest of the sentence.

Example:

“The slash mark looks terrible,” said Aldus, “I think I’ll invent the comma.”

5. Add to the conversation
Use a comma to add an informative tidbit to the sentence.

Example:

The book printer, Aldus Manutius, also invented the semi-colon by pairing up the comma with the colon.

6. When you put a dependent clause in front of an independent clause