|
|
|
All of the technical aspects of language contribute to communication-vocabulary (including spelling!), sentence structure, and, yes, punctuation. In fact, my vote for one of the most important elements of English in terms of clear communication is the "lowly" comma. I have tried to elevate its importance in my title by calling it "ubiquitous" because it has many uses and appears almost everywhere in written English.
One way to think of the comma is in comparison with the period. If the period is a red light, or "stop," the comma is a "yield" sign, which we use to tell the reader to pause and consider the next sentence element in relation to what has come before.
Let's think for a moment about the origin of language. It began with people trying to communicate their ideas and feelings to others through (initially) verbal and (later) written symbols. We won't go back to the very beginning. Instead, let's start at the point where the basic written sentence had emerged as an encapsulation of a single thought-one independent clause with a subject and a verb…or what we call today a simple sentence. Here is an example:
"They went camping."
Lots of things about life can be described and communicated with simple sentences. However, before long people must have wanted to communicate more complicated messages. For example, two independent thoughts might be related in some way, and so they might be encapsulated in what we call today a compound sentence: two independent (stand-alone) clauses connected by a word that indicates how they are related. Today, we generally form compound sentences by using one of the coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, so, or, nor, yet)-preceded by a comma:
"They feared it would rain, but the weather was good."
Two independent but related thoughts are now joined by a comma and the conjunction "but."
A complication that I discussed in my article on sentence structure is the situation in which there is only one subject but more than one verb following it. Here are two examples to show the difference-and note the comma usage:
"They camped beside a stream, and they enjoyed a relaxing day." (two independent clauses, each with a subject and verb, connected by a comma and the conjunction "and"-i.e., a compound sentence)
"They camped beside a stream and enjoyed a relaxing day." (one subject-"They"-followed by two verbs-"camped" and "enjoyed"-which is a simple sentence with a compound predicate, requiring no comma)
Probably later in language evolution, people began to construct sentences that contained at least one independent clause (contains a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a complete thought) and one or more "dependent" or "subordinate" clauses (they contain a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone as an independent thought). These dependent clauses are generally connected to the main clause by a subordinating conjunction such as "because," but in analyzing these types of sentences we need to consider the subordinating conjunction as part of the dependent clause, not just as a connector. Here's the general rule: if the subordinate (dependent) clause comes before the main (stand-alone) clause, it is set off with a comma, but if it comes after the main clause it does not normally need to be set off with a comma. Here are two examples:
"They hiked in the woods because they wanted to get some exercise."
"Because they wanted to get some exercise, they hiked in the woods."
These are what we call "complex" sentences-one or more independent clauses plus one or more dependent clauses.
(For an important situation that involves a special type of subordinate clauses, see my article on "relative clauses," which tells you how to punctuate those types of sentences.)
Another frequent use for commas is in setting off introductory material in sentences. This can be a word, a prepositional phrase, or, as we saw above, a dependent (subordinate) clause. Here are some examples:
"However, it rained the next day." (introductory word)
"During the storm, they played cards in their camper." (introductory prepositional phrase)
"Because it rained, they could not take another hike." (introductory dependent clause)
The third common usage of the comma is to separate the elements of a series. Interestingly, series elements can be clauses or phrases as well as words. However, perhaps the most familiar series elements consist of a string of adjectives that modify a noun. Example:
"After the rain, they enjoyed the clear, fresh, and cool air." (the adjectives modify "air")
Note that I used a comma after "fresh." In general usage, it is not necessary to put a comma between the last two elements of a series unless there is a possibility of misreading. However, in scholarly and technical material I always suggest putting in this "serial" comma to assure that there is no confusion. In fact, why not put it in all the time-it's not ungrammatical, and it guarantees that you will not be misread.
There are other uses of the comma, but if you master these three you will be right most of the time. You might also want to read the article on sentence structure for more specific information about punctuation of clauses.
I hope this helped.
Remember, I am always here to help you with your business communication, proposals, and scholarly documents.
Ray
rh@rayhardestyediting.com
972.838.7619 |
|
