The comma indicates a pause within a sentence, much like the act of taking a breath while in conversation. The separations commas create between words, phrases, and clauses affect the meaning of your sentences. By clearly delineating both concepts and objects in what would otherwise be a wall of text, commas help your readers follow your train of thought with ease. When deciding whether to use a comma, keep the following tips in mind.

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To join two main clauses together in a single complete sentence, place a comma after the first clause and before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, yet).

Jaime doesn’t have a big kitchen in his apartment, but he still manages to cook delicious meals for his family.

When using a coordinating conjunction to link two phrases, or a phrase and a clause, do not add a comma.

Incorrect Tasha sang, and clapped her hands.

Correct Tasha sang and clapped her hands.

Use a comma after an introductory phrase, clause, or word at the beginning of a sentence.

Smiling, Danez offered his hand for me to shake.

Before today, I’d never seen the ocean.

While Morgan chops the celery, I’ll wash the tomatoes.

You may omit a comma after an introductory word or short phrase if there is no chance a reader could misinterpret your meaning.

Someday soon I’ll find the perfect prom dress.

When listing three or more items in a series, separate each item with a comma. The series might consist of single words.

I baked pie, brownies, and cupcakes.

The items in the series might also consist of phrases or clauses.

I baked a juicy apple pie, chocolate brownies with peanut butter chips, and those cupcakes you like so much.

Be careful not to place a comma after the final word, phrase, or clause in a series.

Some writers omit the comma before the final item in a series—this practice is common in journalism. However, leaving off the final comma in a series can obscure the meaning of a sentence, which is never desirable.

Unclear After dinner I met my parents, Anna and Joel.

In the sentence above, Anna and Joel could be the writer’s parents. If Anna and Joel are two more people joining the writer and his or her parents after dinner, a comma is necessary for clarification.

Clear After dinner I met my parents, Anna, and Joel.

Remember, it is never wrong to place a comma before the last item in a series, and this practice is typically preferred in academic writing.

Coordinate adjectives function independently of each other in a sentence but still modify the same noun. In practice, this means that if you remove one coordinate adjective from a sentence, the meaning of the sentence will not change significantly.

Use a comma to separate two or more coordinate adjectives. However, be careful not to use a comma after the final coordinate adjective.

Incorrect He was a charismatic, likable, man.

Correct He was a charismatic, likable man.

However, if you link coordinate adjectives with a coordinating conjunction (usually and), you should omit commas.

My bedroom is neat and clean and uncluttered.

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Cumulative adjectives modify each other and the noun to which they all refer. The meaning of a cumulative adjective is typically objective, a quality most observers would agree on. Do not use a comma between cumulative adjectives.

He was a young Japanese man.

Applying two tests—the conjunction test and the order test—can help determine whether you are looking at coordinate or cumulative adjectives.

Coordinate adjectives can be joined by the conjunction and with natural-sounding results.

Clear He was a charismatic and likable man.

Attempting to join cumulative adjectives with and will sound less than natural and possibly alter the meaning of the sentence.

Unclear He was a young and Japanese man.

The order of coordinate adjectives can also be reversed with natural-sounding results.

Clear He was a likable and charismatic man.

Attempting to reverse cumulative adjectives will sound less than natural and possibly alter the meaning of the sentence.

Unclear He was a Japanese and young man.

Still not sure what kind of adjective you’re dealing with? Here’s one last clue: cumulative adjectives typically stack according to meaning, in the following order: size, shape, condition/age, color, origin/material.

Place a comma both before and after nonrestrictive modifiers that fall midsentence. These phrases or clauses, sometimes called parenthetical modifiers, give nonessential information about the things they describe. However much they enhance a noun’s meaning, nonrestrictive modifiers are not grammatically essential to that noun’s definition in a particular context.

Tolkien’s writing, which is now celebrated throughout the world, was once less mainstream.

Do not place a comma on either side of a restrictive modifier that falls midsentence. Restrictive modifiers are phrases or clauses that give essential information about the things they describe. They not only enhance the meaning of a noun phrase but focus that meaning to a narrower subset.

All the fantasy novels that I have read seem influenced by Tolkien’s work.

Generally, the relative pronoun that introduces a restrictive phrase, while the relative pronoun which introduces a nonrestrictive phrase. However, it is more succinct and often preferable to delete that or which from your own writing wherever their absence does not obscure meaning.

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that identifies or adds information to the entity it modifies (usually another noun phrase). Two nouns used in apposition usually sit adjacent to one another. Like modifiers, appositives can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive. Nonrestrictive appositives can be removed from a sentence without changing the essential meaning of that sentence. Place a comma before and after a nonrestrictive appositive.

The author of “The Monsters and the Critics,” J. R. R. Tolkien, studied language and culture.

Restrictive appositives, which cannot be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning, stand without commas.

The fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien studied language and culture.

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Use commas to set off conjunctive adverbs such as accordingly, eventually, and furthermore. The adverb might take a comma after, before, or on either side, depending on where it falls. When a conjunctive adverb falls in the middle of a clause, place a comma both before and after it.

He gave up on eating cupcakes, eventually, after several unpleasant trips to the dentist.

A parenthetical expression is a short phrase or clause that appears within, and interrupts, another phrase or clause. It functions as an aside to your readers, and it can be set off from the rest of the sentence with commas. It can also be set off using parentheses.

My mother was, unlike last year, very pleased with the gift I gave her for her birthday.

Use commas to set off a phrase or clause that expresses contrast. Such phrases often contain a coordinating or subordinating conjunction that signals the contrasting relationship.

Whereas Georgia reads books, Ben prefers reading magazines.

Short contrasting phrases beginning with but don’t always require commas.

Ben reads magazines but not books.

A comma links an absolute phrase to the rest of the sentence it modifies. An absolute phrase is a modifier attached to a sentence without the use of a conjunction. The comma may fall before, after, or on either side of an absolute phrase, depending where the phrase is placed within the sentence.

Being the champion bookworm of her school, Georgia read the contents of the entire library in just two years.

In the above sentence, the comma falls after the introductory absolute phrase.

Here, the absolute phrase falls between two coordinate clauses and is set off with commas on either side.

Ben considered checking out Dostoyevsky, his hand hovering over the book’s thick spine, but he turned to the periodicals room instead.

Use commas to introduce dialogue and to set off direct quotations in which words, phrases, or sentences are copied word for word from another source. Always place the comma before the quotation marks. To interrupt a quotation (with phrases such as she said ), set off the interrupting phrase or clause with commas.

As my grandmother always said, “A little hard work never hurt anybody, but I’m not taking my chances.”

“I know you don’t like basketball very much,” Seth said, “but I still think you’d enjoy watching a live NBA game.”

However, you may omit the comma before very short quotations, or quotations introduced by conjunctions like that or whether.

When James asked Adriana to the prom, her answer was “maybe.”

She said that she “wanted some privacy.”

You also omit a comma when the quotation reads as part of your own sentence, as in a restrictive appositive.

The saying “wherever you go, there you are” always makes me smile.

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Set off an introductory yes or no with a comma.

No, he did not plan on going to the ball.

Interjections that don’t require other punctuation, such as an exclamation point or question mark, are set off with commas.

And then, Lord have mercy, who walked in but your father.

A tag question at the end of a declarative or imperative sentence transforms it into a question. Introduce the tag question with a comma.

He said he was going, didn’t he?

Place a comma before a name or title used in direct address.

Please come to the ball, Prince Charming.

Use a comma to set off the year in a full date, even when it falls midsentence.

He was born on January 21, 1993, the day after President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.

However, omit the comma when only the month and year are given.

He was born in January 1993.

Place commas around the name of a state when the name of a city precedes it, whether the state is spelled out or abbreviated. However, omit the comma if the state’s name stands alone.

She is from Sacramento, California.

She is from California.

Set off the name of a country with a comma when the name of a state or other internal region precedes it, but omit the comma if the country’s name stands alone.

I’d like to visit Bern, Switzerland, before I die.

I’d like to visit Switzerland before I die.

Place a comma around the different parts of an address, except between the state and zip code.

She works at 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

Never place a comma between a subject and its main verb.

Incorrect She, makes books all day long.

Correct She makes books all day long.

Never place a comma between a verb and its object.

Incorrect She makes, books all day long.

Correct She makes books all day long.

In cases where a conjunction such as and creates a compound subject, never divide that subject by placing a comma before or after the conjunction.

Incorrect Gabby, and Steve saw me trip on the sidewalk.

Correct Gabby and Steve saw me trip on the sidewalk.

Don’t separate the components of a compound predicate.

Incorrect The ballerinas leapt, and pirouetted, and pointed their feet.

Correct The ballerinas leapt and pirouetted and pointed their feet.