WEBVTT

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>> Welcome to the Sacramento
City College Writing Center

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Workshop on comma rules.

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Before we start going over
the rules for using commas

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that are most commonly
used in academic writing,

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we're going to go through
a couple of definitions

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to help make sure that we
all understand what we're

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talking about.

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An independent clause
is a group of words

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that contains both
a subject and a verb

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and that expresses
a complete thought.

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Another way of thinking
independent clauses is they are

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complete sentences.

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A dependent clause is
also a group of words

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that has both the
subject and a verb

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but a dependent clause does
not express a complete thought.

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Dependent clauses are often
marked with dependent words

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like although, while,
when, or if.

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F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. are conjunctions

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that are often called
coordinating conjunctions.

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They connect ideas to one
another and they are for, and,

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nor, but, or, yet, so.

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These words all have
different meanings

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and they show the
relationship between the things

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that are being connected.

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So to join clauses, you have
a few different patterns

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that we can work with.

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If you have two independent
clauses,

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you can join them together
with a comma and a FANBOY.

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You can also join them if
they are very closely related

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to one another with
a semi-colon.

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In that case, you
wouldn't use any other kind

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of conjunction with it.

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So you wouldn't have
to use a FANBOY

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or you can always just have
them as two separate sentences.

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So here we have two
independent clauses.

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The first is Michael
went to the store.

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And the second is
David stayed home.

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So we can put a comma
and a conjunction.

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So we can say Michael
went to the store comma

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but David stayed home.

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And we're using but to show
that there's a difference

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between what happened
in the first sentence

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and what happened in the second.

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We can just use a
semi-colon between the two

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or we can use a period and
make sure that the first word

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of the second sentence
is capitalized.

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Another combination that we
might have is an independent

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clause followed by
a dependent clause.

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In this case, you don't need
any special punctuation.

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Just put the dependent
clause right

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after the independent clause.

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On the other hand, if you
have a dependent clause first

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and then an independent
clause, you're going

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to put a comma right after the
dependent clause before you

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start the independent clause.

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So when we have the
independent clause,

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Michael forgot to get cereal.

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And we know that's independent

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because it can stand
all by itself.

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And we have the dependent
clause,

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when he went to the store.

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We can do one of two things.

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We can say Michael
forgot to get cereal

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when he went to the store.

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And then we don't need
any punctuation except

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for the period at the end.

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Or we can say when he went

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to the store comma Michael
forgot to get cereal.

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And that comma lets us know

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that that first little
bit tells us something

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about the second part but it's
not a complete idea on its own.

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Commas are also used
when listing.

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So when you have more than
two items, you're going

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to put a comma between
each of those items.

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You don't have to put a
comma before the final item

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in your list unless you need
it to make it more clear.

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But once you choose, you
have to do it the same way.

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So if you do put a comma
before the last item,

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every time you use more
than three items or more

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than two items, you're going to
have to put a comma before that.

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If you don't, you
can't ever do it.

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There is a special case if you
have commas inside of the list

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where you have, for example,
a city and state or a list

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that groups many things by type.

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You're going to list semi-colons

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to separate those
groups of ideas.

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So let's show some
examples of that.

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Here we have bananas, apples,
and kiwis for breakfast.

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You can put a comma
after apples or not.

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It's your choice.

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It doesn't really
clarify anything

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but it doesn't hurt
anything either.

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Here we don't have to
have a comma before

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or in the car but we can.

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It doesn't matter either way.

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It's still just as clear.

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On the other hand, when we ask
someone's sisters, Danielle

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and Mary, if we don't have
the comma before and Mary,

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it can make some things
confusing for readers

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because it leaves us

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with a question are her
sisters named Danielle and Mary

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or is she asking more
than one different person?

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Is she asking Danielle, Mary,

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and the two women
who are her sisters?

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So in this case, we
definitely need that comma

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to make it more clear
that we're talking

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about more than two people.

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We're talking about
at least four.

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When we're listing things with
the commas and semi-colons,

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it's going to look like this.

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A lot of times you're
going to do this

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when you have cities and states.

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If we just used commas,
this sentence would say

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on our road trip comma we went

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to San Francisco comma
California comma Seattle comma

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Washington comma and
Vancouver comma B.C.

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which might make someone
think that we went

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to San Francisco then to
California, then to Seattle then

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to Washington then to Vancouver,
then to British Columbia

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which would be incorrect.

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So by putting the commas and the
semi-colons it helps make it a

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little more clear
for our readers.

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Likewise, we can
do the same thing

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when we're grouping
items in a list.

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So here we've listed
dairy products

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and then dry products
and yummy stuff.

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They all go into cookies.

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Adjectives are words
that describe nouns.

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So when you list two
or more adjectives

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that could be reversed which
are sometimes called coordinate

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adjectives or coordinating
adjectives.

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We want to put a comma
between them but you don't need

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to put a comma between the
adjective and the noun.

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On the other hand, if the
adjectives can't be reversed.

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So these are called
cumulative adjectives.

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You don't put a comma
between them.

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If you aren't sure whether an
adjective set is cumulative

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or coordinating, see if you
can join them with an and.

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If you can't join them,
they're cumulative.

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So you should not put
a comma between them.

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So the scary, yellow
bug tried to attack me.

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The bug is scary and yellow.

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So that's a coordinate
adjective.

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We can switch them around.

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We could say the
yellow scary bug.

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We're going to put
a comma there.

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On the other hand, we can't
it's two and purple eyes.

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So it has to just
be two purple eyes.

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No comma. It had sharp
and glistening teeth.

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We're not going to
put the and in.

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We're just going to put a comma.

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Here's a little more confusing
because we could say the giant

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and toxic green tongue but
if toxic green is a color

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which it is in this case, those
words need to stay together.

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They can't be switched around.

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So it has to be giant toxic
green tongue was so gross.

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No commas.

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Non-essential information is
anything that you don't need

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in a sentence in order to make
it be complete or make sense.

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Sometimes non-essential
information is necessary

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for the entire paragraph
or essay to make sense

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but what we're concerned
about is grammatics

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of one sentence not about
the whole paragraph.

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Okay?

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Often when you're using
non-essential information,

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it is going to explain or
define something you've written.

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Or it helps to transition
between ideas.

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You can also hear it called
non-restrictive elements or --

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and then essential information
is a restrictive element.

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I wouldn't worry too much
about that language use

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but some teachers will
use that language.

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So it's good to know.

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And non-essential information
can be found anywhere

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in the sentence.

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So it's not just in the middle.

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It might be at the beginning.

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It might be in the middle.

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It might be at the end.

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So let's look at some
examples of this.

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So some essential
information in this sentence.

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The people who had prepaid for
their meal got served meal.

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Now if we tried taking out who
had prepaid for their meal.

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My sentence would become
the people got served first.

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And that doesn't really
tell us anything, does it?

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We need to have that information
who had prepaid for their meal

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in order to know what
people got served first.

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So that's essential information.

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On the other hand, in this
sentence, we don't need to know

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that the girls who were 15

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and 16 years old were the
ones who drank smoothies.

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We just need to know the
girls drank smoothies.

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That little bit of extra
information that they were 15

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and 16 years old, that's useful

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but it doesn't change
the sentence.

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We use non-essential
information to rename a noun.

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My best friend has the
ugliest cat in the world.

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That can stand by itself.

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No problem.

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I am going to use some
non-essential information.

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Sally, that's her actual name,

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to tell you who my
best friend is.

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Now I don't need that
information in the sentence

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but when I'm going to talk about
her later I don't want to have

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to say my best friend
over and over again.

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I want to just be
able to say Sally

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and have you know who I mean.

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So here this allows me to
tell you that information

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without making a whole sentence

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that says my best
friend's name is Sally.

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Here we're going to
do the exact opposite.

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We're going to give
that proper noun, Buddy,

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and then we're going to tell you
who Buddy is, her Persian cat.

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We could just say Buddy has
a very flat face but without

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that little bit of
extra information,

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we won't know who Buddy is.

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We might give an explanation
in non-essential information

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like her husband claims,
when Sally's not around.

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So that tells us when
he does this claim

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that Buddy's face was slammed
in the door as a kitten.

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Now because I've told you
who Buddy is and who Sally is

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in my previous sentences as
non-essential information,

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you don't have to ask me who's
this Sally chick or who's Buddy?

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We can transition with
non-essential information.

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However is often used.

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Therefore is another one that
gets used in mid sentence

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or often at the beginning
of sentences.

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So if Sally, however,
thinks her cat is beautiful.

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We could just Sally
thinks her cat is beautiful

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but however helps us
connect that information

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to the sentence before
and after.

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And then an address.

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An address where you
talk to somebody.

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So sometimes you might be
talking to a friend like hey,

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Joe comma what are
you doing or hey mom,

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I really need some money.

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Here this is a mid
sentence address.

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We're going to say I know
what you think, dear reader,

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but beauty is in the
eye of the beholder.

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We don't need the
words dear reader here

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but they help us connect a
little bit to the sentence.

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All right.

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Now this is probably the
most common use of commas

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that people have trouble

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with for academic writing is
using commas while quoting.

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When you're directly quoting
a source, you often need

00:12:52.396 --> 00:12:55.476 A:middle
to use a comma if
the sentence --

00:12:56.156 --> 00:12:58.166 A:middle
or if the quote hasn't
been integrated

00:12:58.166 --> 00:12:59.536 A:middle
into your own sentence.

00:13:00.356 --> 00:13:01.666 A:middle
So let's see how that works.

00:13:02.256 --> 00:13:08.046 A:middle
If we just say something like so
and so said or argued or wrote,

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and then plopped the quote in.

00:13:11.006 --> 00:13:12.766 A:middle
We're going to use
a comma like here.

00:13:13.376 --> 00:13:15.416 A:middle
Douglas Adams argued comma

00:13:15.946 --> 00:13:18.186 A:middle
and then we stuck the
whole quote in there.

00:13:18.356 --> 00:13:19.546 A:middle
We don't have to save the world.

00:13:19.546 --> 00:13:21.516 A:middle
The world is big enough
to look after itself.

00:13:21.916 --> 00:13:24.246 A:middle
What we have to be
concerned about is whether

00:13:24.246 --> 00:13:25.926 A:middle
or not the world we
live in will be capable

00:13:25.926 --> 00:13:28.486 A:middle
of sustaining us in it.

00:13:28.486 --> 00:13:29.546 A:middle
Easy peasy.

00:13:30.296 --> 00:13:34.636 A:middle
However, we can also try
to integrate the quote

00:13:34.636 --> 00:13:38.136 A:middle
into our own language and
make it a little smoother.

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Douglas Adams argued that
the quote world is big enough

00:13:42.336 --> 00:13:45.336 A:middle
to look after itself end
quote and we should focus

00:13:45.336 --> 00:13:48.276 A:middle
on quote whether or not the
world we live in will be capable

00:13:48.276 --> 00:13:49.866 A:middle
of sustaining us in it.

00:13:51.296 --> 00:13:55.396 A:middle
A lot of times teachers prefer
this second method to the first

00:13:55.846 --> 00:13:58.526 A:middle
because it allows you
to be more specific

00:13:58.526 --> 00:13:59.776 A:middle
about what you're talking about.

00:14:00.426 --> 00:14:04.136 A:middle
And it shows that you, as the
writer, understand the quotes

00:14:04.136 --> 00:14:09.136 A:middle
that you're using well enough to
break them up and work with them

00:14:09.396 --> 00:14:12.096 A:middle
as opposed to just
copy and paste.

00:14:12.596 --> 00:14:14.076 A:middle
You've actually thought
about what it means

00:14:14.076 --> 00:14:15.696 A:middle
and how it connects
to what you're saying.

00:14:15.946 --> 00:14:21.136 A:middle
Somewhat of a hybrid
of those two.

00:14:21.876 --> 00:14:23.906 A:middle
Arguing that quote the
world is big enough to look

00:14:23.906 --> 00:14:26.756 A:middle
after itself comma --
and that's a comma there

00:14:26.756 --> 00:14:29.066 A:middle
because it's an introductory
phase or a dependent clause

00:14:29.066 --> 00:14:32.016 A:middle
at the beginning there,
Douglas Adams urged people

00:14:32.016 --> 00:14:34.736 A:middle
to be more concerned about quote
whether or not the world we live

00:14:34.736 --> 00:14:36.696 A:middle
in will be capable of
sustaining us in it.

00:14:37.186 --> 00:14:39.956 A:middle
So we've got a comma there but
it's not because it's a quote.

00:14:40.286 --> 00:14:43.476 A:middle
It's because we've got
a dependent clause.

00:14:44.796 --> 00:14:44.896 A:middle
Okay?

00:14:45.106 --> 00:14:46.966 A:middle
So we're going to
do some practice.

00:14:47.426 --> 00:14:50.586 A:middle
I would suggest, right now,
hitting pause on your player

00:14:50.586 --> 00:14:51.986 A:middle
because I'm only going to pause

00:14:51.986 --> 00:14:54.806 A:middle
for a few seconds before
I start going through.

00:14:54.806 --> 00:14:56.726 A:middle
So I'll give you about
10 or 15 seconds.

00:14:56.786 --> 00:14:58.786 A:middle
Go ahead and pause
and run through this.

00:15:15.636 --> 00:15:16.576 A:middle
All right.

00:15:16.576 --> 00:15:18.496 A:middle
You might want to hit pause
if you're not done yet.

00:15:19.696 --> 00:15:20.976 A:middle
So this first one.

00:15:22.256 --> 00:15:23.686 A:middle
We've got an address
in the middle here.

00:15:23.856 --> 00:15:26.096 A:middle
We should have eaten Mom
before we left the house.

00:15:26.206 --> 00:15:28.706 A:middle
If we don't put any
commas into the sentence,

00:15:28.706 --> 00:15:30.206 A:middle
we've got a serious problem

00:15:30.206 --> 00:15:32.356 A:middle
because if we don't
put any commas in,

00:15:32.356 --> 00:15:33.276 A:middle
we're going to eat our mom.

00:15:33.476 --> 00:15:35.026 A:middle
And that's probably
not very good.

00:15:35.416 --> 00:15:37.646 A:middle
So we want to put commas
before and after mom.

00:15:38.176 --> 00:15:41.746 A:middle
And that tells us that's
non-essential information

00:15:41.746 --> 00:15:42.426 A:middle
for sentence.

00:15:43.026 --> 00:15:45.926 A:middle
We could just say we should have
eaten before we left the house.

00:15:47.896 --> 00:15:49.916 A:middle
There aren't enough
seats for everyone

00:15:50.096 --> 00:15:51.246 A:middle
so we need to find some more.

00:15:51.646 --> 00:15:53.846 A:middle
So we've got two
independent clauses.

00:15:53.996 --> 00:15:55.596 A:middle
There aren't enough
seats for everyone

00:15:56.276 --> 00:15:57.986 A:middle
and we need to find some more.

00:15:58.376 --> 00:16:00.136 A:middle
And they've got a
FANBOY in there.

00:16:00.136 --> 00:16:02.396 A:middle
So but we don't have a comma.

00:16:02.396 --> 00:16:04.006 A:middle
So we're going to put a
comma right before so.

00:16:04.556 --> 00:16:08.306 A:middle
If we don't have enough
seats someone will have

00:16:08.356 --> 00:16:09.126 A:middle
to sit on the floor.

00:16:09.666 --> 00:16:12.606 A:middle
So we've got a dependent
clause first

00:16:12.846 --> 00:16:14.296 A:middle
and then an independent clause.

00:16:14.296 --> 00:16:15.946 A:middle
We've got if we don't
have enough seats

00:16:16.596 --> 00:16:18.476 A:middle
and then someone will
have to sit on the floor.

00:16:18.476 --> 00:16:20.316 A:middle
So we're going to
put a comma right

00:16:20.316 --> 00:16:23.056 A:middle
after the dependent clause
before the independent.

00:16:23.056 --> 00:16:23.896 A:middle
So after seats.

00:16:24.256 --> 00:16:28.586 A:middle
I don't mind being a floor
sitter if that is necessary

00:16:28.786 --> 00:16:30.036 A:middle
but I don't really want to.

00:16:31.286 --> 00:16:32.496 A:middle
This one's a little tricky.

00:16:33.466 --> 00:16:35.966 A:middle
We definitely have two
complete sentences.

00:16:35.966 --> 00:16:37.146 A:middle
Two independent clauses.

00:16:37.276 --> 00:16:38.816 A:middle
We've got I don't really want to

00:16:39.316 --> 00:16:41.426 A:middle
and I don't mind
being a floor sitter.

00:16:42.616 --> 00:16:47.806 A:middle
The phrase if that is necessary
is not a complete idea.

00:16:48.416 --> 00:16:51.946 A:middle
It could be considered
one of two things.

00:16:51.946 --> 00:16:54.666 A:middle
It could be either
unnecessary information

00:16:54.666 --> 00:16:56.366 A:middle
or non-essential information

00:16:56.406 --> 00:16:58.156 A:middle
so we could put commas
on both sides of it.

00:16:59.016 --> 00:17:02.616 A:middle
Or it could be considered
a dependent clause

00:17:02.876 --> 00:17:04.926 A:middle
in which case we don't
need to put commas there.

00:17:05.566 --> 00:17:11.286 A:middle
So you can put a comma before if
but you don't necessarily have

00:17:11.286 --> 00:17:14.026 A:middle
to but you have to
put one before but.

00:17:15.496 --> 00:17:18.936 A:middle
The beautiful intelligent woman
answered every question she

00:17:18.936 --> 00:17:20.096 A:middle
was asked.

00:17:21.696 --> 00:17:23.676 A:middle
We can swap beautiful
intelligent.

00:17:23.676 --> 00:17:25.926 A:middle
We could say she's
intelligent beautiful woman.

00:17:26.816 --> 00:17:29.396 A:middle
We could also say the
beautiful and intelligent woman.

00:17:29.466 --> 00:17:33.046 A:middle
So these are coordinating
adjectives so we're going

00:17:33.046 --> 00:17:33.986 A:middle
to put a comma between them.

00:17:34.546 --> 00:17:39.656 A:middle
I haven't seen any good bands
other than Signal the Red

00:17:39.796 --> 00:17:40.976 A:middle
since I moved to Sacramento.

00:17:40.976 --> 00:17:46.726 A:middle
We could say this sentence,
I haven't seen any good bands

00:17:46.726 --> 00:17:48.166 A:middle
since I moved to Sacramento.

00:17:48.906 --> 00:17:52.436 A:middle
So that other than
the Signal the Red is

00:17:52.706 --> 00:17:54.016 A:middle
non-essential information.

00:17:54.016 --> 00:17:56.346 A:middle
We're going to put commas
on either side of it.

00:17:57.276 --> 00:18:01.796 A:middle
The best most important answer
you can give is an honest one.

00:18:03.336 --> 00:18:05.176 A:middle
Best and most important.

00:18:06.356 --> 00:18:08.056 A:middle
Those are coordinating.

00:18:08.246 --> 00:18:09.246 A:middle
We can swap them around.

00:18:09.246 --> 00:18:11.236 A:middle
The most important best
answer you can give.

00:18:11.236 --> 00:18:15.326 A:middle
So we're going to put a
comma between the two.

00:18:15.556 --> 00:18:17.896 A:middle
College often seems more
difficult than it needs

00:18:17.896 --> 00:18:19.466 A:middle
to be but it's important.

00:18:20.126 --> 00:18:21.766 A:middle
So we've got two
complete thoughts.

00:18:22.286 --> 00:18:26.026 A:middle
It's important and college
often seems more difficult

00:18:26.026 --> 00:18:26.796 A:middle
than it needs to be.

00:18:27.036 --> 00:18:30.776 A:middle
So we're going to put a
comma right before that but.

00:18:30.776 --> 00:18:33.086 A:middle
In fact going to college is one

00:18:33.086 --> 00:18:34.666 A:middle
of the single greatest
things you can do.

00:18:34.666 --> 00:18:39.226 A:middle
We're going to put a
comma right after in fact

00:18:39.486 --> 00:18:42.776 A:middle
because that is some
non-essential information.

00:18:42.776 --> 00:18:43.686 A:middle
It's a transition.

00:18:43.686 --> 00:18:47.096 A:middle
It just leads us into this idea
for the rest of the paragraph.

00:18:47.476 --> 00:18:51.396 A:middle
We're not going to put a comma
between single and greatest

00:18:52.006 --> 00:18:53.586 A:middle
because while those
are adjectives,

00:18:54.026 --> 00:18:55.186 A:middle
they build on each other.

00:18:55.956 --> 00:18:58.246 A:middle
They don't -- they
can't be swapped around.

00:18:58.246 --> 00:18:59.836 A:middle
You can't say the
greatest single thing.

00:19:00.326 --> 00:19:03.136 A:middle
So it's single greatest
every time.

00:19:03.646 --> 00:19:07.026 A:middle
And this last one which
is the hardest one.

00:19:07.806 --> 00:19:11.466 A:middle
Should I serve kidney beans
which are red cranberry beans

00:19:11.466 --> 00:19:14.456 A:middle
which are white and red or
chickpeas which are tan?

00:19:15.656 --> 00:19:20.996 A:middle
So we're going to put
semi-colons after the word bean

00:19:20.996 --> 00:19:23.316 A:middle
or after the words
that are colors.

00:19:23.316 --> 00:19:27.106 A:middle
So you're going to do
a semi-colon after red,

00:19:27.106 --> 00:19:30.126 A:middle
a semi-colon after the other
word red and we're going

00:19:30.126 --> 00:19:32.266 A:middle
to do a comma before
the each which.

00:19:33.496 --> 00:19:37.746 A:middle
The reason we do this is
because we've got several ideas

00:19:37.746 --> 00:19:40.906 A:middle
and we have to have a
comma inside the things

00:19:40.906 --> 00:19:41.736 A:middle
that we're listing.

00:19:42.796 --> 00:19:47.376 A:middle
If we didn't use the semi-colons
it would be kidney beans comma

00:19:47.376 --> 00:19:48.276 A:middle
which are red comma.

00:19:48.526 --> 00:19:51.256 A:middle
Cranberry beans comma which
are white and red comma

00:19:51.386 --> 00:19:53.156 A:middle
or chickpeas comma
which are tan.

00:19:53.156 --> 00:19:55.336 A:middle
And it would be hard to
tell what things connect

00:19:55.336 --> 00:19:56.056 A:middle
to one another.

00:19:56.056 --> 00:19:57.916 A:middle
So those semi-colons
help us figure that out.

00:20:02.576 --> 00:20:03.906 A:middle
Thank you for coming.

00:20:04.386 --> 00:20:05.276 A:middle
Thank you for watching.

00:20:05.276 --> 00:20:09.616 A:middle
If you have any more questions
about how to use commas properly

00:20:09.746 --> 00:20:12.956 A:middle
for the writing for
academic purposes,

00:20:13.256 --> 00:20:14.406 A:middle
come to the Writing Center.

00:20:14.716 --> 00:20:19.516 A:middle
You can make an appointment
by calling us at 558-2126.

00:20:19.816 --> 00:20:20.916 A:middle
Thanks. Have a great day.