Comma: Rules of Usage to Avoid Comatose

A panda, hungry for breakfast, comes in a restaurant.

 He orders everything in the menu, takes his seat, and proceeds to eat. After he finishes his food, he immediately pays. As he stands up, he takes a gun out of his pocket, shoots the ceiling, and then leaves.

 As the furry creature is walking to the door, the waiter asks, sir, why did yo do such a thing? The panda produced a dictionary, turned the pages, and gives it to the waiter.

Panda, noun, a large bear native in China. Eats, shoots, and leaves.

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Pandas are awesome! But this one ain't. If he eats in my restaurant, I'm gonna make him pay for the damaged ceiling. But why did such a thing happen? One word: miscommunication. See how one little mistake (or in this case three mistakes) can cause a lot of trouble. If the panda shot the waiter, he could be in a state of comatose.

To avoid such trouble, here are some rules with using the comma.

Rule of thumb: the comma is to separate or contain stuff.

1.) Use the comma to separate words or group of words. The mistake of the dictionary the panda was carrying is that it separated the words as if enumerating directions.  Separate words only in a series of three or more. For instance:

The salad had apples, dragon fruits, watermelon, and oranges.

2.) Use the comma to separate two adjectives. Using 'and' between two adjectives sounds...weird. Compare the two:

She is a smart, young lady.

She is a smart and young lady.

The second sentence violates the rule of style while the first one is short and sweet.

3.) Use a comma when a '-ly' adjective is used along with another adjective. 

She was a friendly, jolly person.

 4.) Use commas to contain appositives. Appositives are dependent clauses which stand next to nouns or pronouns. Their function is to identify, portray, or rename the noun or pronoun it follows.

He, being the top of the class, delivered a speech.

5.) Use a comma after a dependent clause that opens the sentence. As a rule of style: do not use dependent clauses to open a sentence for a stronger effect.


 Being the top of the class, he delivered a speech.


So that's it for now. Got any questions? Drop a message at comments.