COMMAS
,
For those people who prefer to downplay the significance of punctuation, consider the
following sentence and how the addition of a few punctuation marks can seriously affect the
meaning and our understanding of the sentence:
A woman without her man is nothing.
(anti-woman)
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
(pro-woman)
Commas, when used incorrectly, are either used too often or not often enough. Writers who
don’t understand the rules of comma usage typically use them intuitively (i.e., by guessing)—
believing, for instance, that a pause always signals a comma. That’s not always the case,
however, so your best bet is simply to learn the rules governing punctuation. Here are some
common comma errors:
1)
The superfluous comma. This unnecessary comma appears in many different
circumstances—for instance, between the subject and the verb or verb phrase of a
main clause when the verb follows right after the subject:
X
SUBJECT
VERB PHRASE
“The Romulans, will never make peace with the Federation.”

This comma doesn’t belong. There’s absolutely no reason for it to be here.
b)
Some writers think that who should always follow a comma, but it shouldn’t in a
restrictive (necessary) clause or phrase:
X
“I insist that everyone, who watches Star Trek, is a geek!”
Normally, whatever’s between commas in the middle of a sentence can be taken out without
hurting the sense of the remaining words—it’s unnecessary for meaning. However, if we do
this to the above sentence, we have “I insist that everyone is a geek!” That’s not what the
writer wants to say; she wants to restrict her name-calling only to a certain segment of the
population. Thus, she must leave out the commas so that the restrictive clause “who watches
Star Trek” is clearly joined to the rest of the sentence and can’t be omitted without radically
altering her meaning.

“I insist that everyone who watches Star Trek is a geek!”
2)
The comma splice. Here the comma splices (joins) two main clauses that should
either stand as separate sentences (with a period between them) or that could be
separated by a semicolon:
X
“Captain Janeway and her crew will eventually return home, perhaps they’ll find a
wormhole.”

“Captain Janeway and her crew will eventually return home; perhaps they’ll find a
wormhole.”

“Captain Janeway and her crew will eventually return home. Perhaps they’ll find a
wormhole.”
3)
The run-on sentence incorrectly omits at least one comma (or other punctuation mark
such as a semicolon):
X
“On the other hand Seven of Nine does not want to return to Earth because she spent
most of her life as a Borg in the Delta Quadrant.”


“On the other hand, Seven of Nine does not want to return to Earth because she spent
most of her life as a Borg in the Delta Quadrant.”
4)
The fused sentence. This term actually refers to at least two sentences that are
incorrectly run together when a period, semicolon, or comma + connective should
separate them:
X
“Seven is still largely Borg she no longer considers Earth her home.”

“Seven is still largely Borg, so she no longer considers Earth her home.”
RULES OF COMMA USAGE AND TYPES OF CLAUSES
Since commas often separate clauses, we must define clause types, of which there are two:
INDEPENDENT clause: must have a SUBJECT (someone or some thing engaged in an
(MAIN)
action or state of being) +
a VERB or VERB PHRASE (some action or state of being)
(an independent clause can stand by itself as a full sentence )
DEPENDENT clause: can lack a subject and even a verb or verb phrase
(a dependent clause cannot stand by itself as a complete
sentence; it is a sentence fragment)
1)
One important rule about commas is that they surround any word or group of words
(phrase and clause) that you drop into an INDEPENDENT (MAIN) CLAUSE.
Anything separating the SUBJECT and the VERB or VERB PHRASE of the main
clause requires commas on each side. The following is a perfectly good
INDEPENDENT clause that needs no commas:
SUBJECT

“The Romulans
VERB PHRASE

will never make
peace with the Federation.”
The next sentence is more complex because the writer, wanting to tell us more about the
Romulans, has dropped a DEPENDENT CLAUSE into the independent clause, right between
the subject and verb phrase. Note the correct placement of the two commas:
a)
SUBJECT

“The Romulans,
DEPENDENT CLAUSE

an off-shoot of the Vulcans,
VERB PHRASE

will never make. . . .”
THE GRAMMATICAL TEST:
The INDEPENDENT (MAIN) clause has the subject Romulans and the verb phrase will never
make. Thus, the MAIN idea of the sentence is “The Romulans will never make peace with
the Federation.” This is the grammatical test to determine the MAIN clause—look for a
subject and a verb (someone or something performing some action or in a state of being).
You can also use the grammatical test to determine if a clause is DEPENDENT. The clause
“an off-shoot of the Vulcans” lacks both a subject and a verb, so it cannot be an independent
clause; therefore it must be a dependent clause and should be surrounded by commas if it is
parachuted into the middle of the main clause.
THE SENSE TEST:
The other test is the sense test: does the clause make sense by itself? If it has a subject and a
verb it will make sense and must be an independent (main) clause—something that can stand
independently without any other words needed to complete it logically and grammatically.
“The Romulans will never make peace with the Federation” makes perfectly good sense, so it
must be an independent clause, a full sentence.
On the other hand, consider the other part of the sentence: “an off-shoot of the Vulcans.”
Would it make sense by itself? If you said to somebody “an off-shoot of the Vulcans,” would
he or she know what you were talking about? Of course not, so the clause must be dependent
because it depends on something else—the independent clause—for its logical completion.
In some of the exercise sentences, below, the dependent clause is dropped into the main
clause. The dependent clause can also come before or after the main clause, in which case the
clauses are usually separated by one comma.
In example “b,” the dependent clause precedes the main clause. Note the comma that
separates them:
b)
“Because the controls were damaged, Chekov was unable to fire the photon
torpedoes.”
In example “c,” the main clause precedes the dependent clause this time, but note that the
subordinating conjunction because can be seen to replace the comma, so no comma is needed
to separate the clauses:
c)
“Chekov was unable to fire the photon torpedoes because the controls were
damaged.”
2)
Sometimes, however, there is no full dependent clause but simply a single transitional
word or phrase. Like dependent clauses, transitional elements are separated from the
main clause by commas. Some examples of words and phrases that can act as
transitions are:
- however
- furthermore
- moreover
- next
- as a result
- for instance
- in contrast
- for example
- yet
- thus
- then
- on one hand
- on the other hand
- on the contrary
- nevertheless
- as a matter of fact
- in addition
- similarly
- consequently
- but
- rather
- indeed
- therefore
- of course
The following sample sentence uses two transitional elements—the conjunction but and the
phrase as a matter of fact:
“The Vulcans are known for their rational, logical inclinations, but, as a matter of
fact, they have an intensely mystical side to them as well.”
REMEMBER: ANYTHING ADDED TO THE MAIN IDEA (CLAUSE) OF A
SENTENCE—ANY PARENTHETICAL ELEMENT—MUST HAVE PUNCTUATION SEPARATING IT AND THE MAIN IDEA.
3)
Commas also separate items in a series of single words, phrases, or clauses (as
here). A comma used this way is called a serial comma. Here’s a series of phrases:
a)
“Data had his telescope, his star charts, his binoculars, and his flashlight.”
Sometimes it is considered acceptable to omit the final comma in a series of more than two
items because the conjunction—in this case, and—replaces the comma:
b)
“Data had his telescope, his star charts, his binoculars and his flashlight.”
REMEMBER: CONJUNCTIONS SOMETIMES CAN REPLACE COMMAS.
Some conjunctions: and but or because until
c)
“During the war with the Dominion, the DS-9 wormhole was the focal point of the
conflict, the Klingons and Romulans fought on the side of the Federation, and the
Cardassians paid a terrible price for siding initially with the enemy.”
Example “c” uses commas to separate one dependent clause (the first) and a series of three
independent clauses—but see how semicolons can also be used to separate independent
clauses.
4)
Also, commas separate adjectives (noun-modifiers) that come side-by-side. In the
following sentence, absorbing and frightening are adjectives modifying (telling us
more about) the noun movie:
a)
“The Wrath of Khan is an absorbing, frightening movie.”
Omit the comma when the adjectives are related too closely to be separated—that is, when
they cannot be connected with and and cannot be reversed:
b)
“Kirk is noted for his outstanding strategic skills.”
A comma between the adjectives outstanding and strategic would distort the sense of the
sentence because outstanding is meant, here, to modify strategic skills rather than skills alone.
What kind of strategic skills does Kirk have? He has outstanding strategic skills. In this case,
omit the comma for clarity.
EXERCISES:
PUT COMMAS IN THE APPROPRIATE PLACES ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING
FORMULAS AND UNDERLINE THE ELEMENTS OF THE INDEPENDENT (MAIN)
CLAUSE:
1a)
1b)
1c)
2a)
2b)
3)
4)
SUBJECT, DEPENDENT CLAUSE, VERB or VERB PHRASE (two commas)
or
DEPENDENT CLAUSE, MAIN CLAUSE (one comma)—USUALLY
or
MAIN CLAUSE, DEPENDENT CLAUSE (one comma)—USUALLY
or
SUBJECT, TRANSITION, VERB or VERB PHRASE (two commas)
or
TRANSITION, MAIN CLAUSE (one comma)
or
ITEM, ITEM, ITEM, ITEM (as many commas as are needed)
or
ADJECTIVE, ADJECTIVE NOUN (one comma)—OFTEN
THESE FORMULAS DON’T COVER ALL INSTANCES IN WHICH COMMAS ARE
NEEDED, ONLY THOSE THAT TEND TO GIVE STUDENTS THE MOST TROUBLE.
1)
The Klingons although they are from a distant planet have things in common with the
First Nations of North America.
2)
Although they are from a distant planet the Klingons have things in common with the
First Nations of North America.
3)
Until they adopt a philosophy of pure logic the Romulans will be a war-like people.
4)
The Romulans will be a war-like people until they adopt a philosophy of pure logic.
5)
On the other hand within the Romulan Empire are subversive groups who want to
become like their peace-loving Vulcan cousins.
6)
Because of the similarities between Khan and Captain Ahab The Wrath of Khan is a
science-fiction version of Melville’s Moby-Dick.
7)
The Wrath of Khan is a science-fiction version of Melville's Moby-Dick because of the
similarities between Khan and Captain Ahab.
8)
“The Doomsday Machine” an early Star Trek episode has elements of Moby-Dick in it
as well.
9)
“This Side of Paradise” furthermore is based on Tennyson’s poem “The Lotus Eaters.”
10)
Because Klingons killed his son Captain Kirk is less suited to act as Federation
ambassador to the Klingons than the more tolerant Captain Picard.
11)
Worf accompanied Picard Troi Riker and Data to the planet.
(three separate people)
12)
The Romulans are a ruthless treacherous race of aliens.
13)
Although the omnipotent entity called “Q” had caused trouble for several Federation
captains including Picard Sisko and Janeway in the end he helped the Voyager crew
cut several years off their seemingly endless arduous and dangerous journey home.
CAUTIONARY NOTE: Published authors aren’t necessarily reliable guides to the proper
use of punctuation. Herman Melville’s punctuation, for example, is often bizarre. Your best
bet is to learn the rules and become self-reliant in these matters.