Central and East European Studies

3. Commas and run-on sentences

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Commas area very necessary form of punctuation. Using them wrongly has three damaging consequences:

A run-on sentence might look like this:

The above sentence should be divided into four. Some changes to the text may be necessary to make the text flow:

A tip: read your text aloud and listen to the flow. If a comma trips you up, it's in the wrong place. If you find yourself puzzled by the sense of your sentence, you may need to replace some commas with full stops. Remember that you're trying to convey information as clearly as possible. Wrongly placed commas do not clarify, they muddle.

In addition to that all-important tip, here are some basic uses for commas:

1. To separate items in a list:

N.B. If the list is long and complicated, it's sometimes also helpful to put a comma before the last item. This is known as a serial comma.

2. To join two related sentences the second of which begins with and, or, but, yet or while, if this makes the text easier to understand:

3. To enclose a subordinate clause (a clause within a sentence that adds information):

4. To mark the beginning or end of direct or quoted speech:

5. To provide a small pause after an adverb (e.g. first, secondly, thirdly, however, therefore, furthermore, finally, similarly, subsequently) or adverb phrase (e.g. in the meantime, more importantly, in particular, in conclusion) if the adverb or adverb phrase comes at the beginning of a sentence.

6. To separate out adverbs within sentences, if this makes the text easier to read.
TaskTask TypeDifficulty
Task 1Free textEasier
Task 2Free textMore Challenging
Task 3Free textEasier
Task 4Free textModerate
Task 5Free textModerate