By: Jane Sumerset
Submitted: 2010-01-04 00:18:33 | Word Count: 519
Commas can be tricky. In the past, I played commas by ear. If it sounded like a brief pause made sense, I added one in. While that works extremely well when I’m in the top of my game, it usually leads to mixed results when I’m tired, sleepy or otherwise uninspired.
However, using a comma in your content is another story. Each writing must possess a correct and proper way of using punctuations and this includes the use of a comma. You need not to place comma every time you are going to pause in a sentence, it can only make your sentence too long which is very dull to read when your readers will find it out.
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There are a lot of rules in using commas. And we often heard it at school especially during our elementary years, how much more during our high school and college days?
Since there are a lot of ways on how to use comma and when should we use them in our sentence, it is important that being a writer, we should always have the knowledge about this. Because, if ever you don’t know how to place them correctly in your sentences, your concept of idea in your passages might change. And worst, your readers might not fully understand it well and will only junk your piece in a trash. You don’t want that to happen, do you?
As such, I needed a better structure from which to work commas into my sentences, to make sure I cover all my bases before running it through my English writing software. After searching, I found the answer with LUCI in order to determine when and how should we place commas in our sentences. LUCI stands for Lists, Unnecessary Clauses, Coordinating Conjunctions and Introductory Phrases.
Lists. In a list of various items, whether they’re nouns, adjectives, adverbs or some other word form, commas are always necessary, except for the last item (unless it will be confusing not to add one).
Example: I like pretty girls, fast cars and cute bunnies.
Unnecessary Clauses. Sometimes, we add in clauses which can aid in the overall picture, without making much difference to the meaning of a sentence. These clauses, whether they’re appositives, participate phrases or parenthetical elements, will need to be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.
Example: Their house, which they bought from Steve Jobs, was ruined by the fire.
Coordinating Conjunctions. When connecting two complete sentences, you typically add in a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so) to transition from one to the other. In this situation, the coordinating conjunction will need to be preceded by a comma.
Example: I said I love you, but I lied.
Introductory Statement. An introductory statement sets the context for the body of the sentence, preceding the foundational subject and verb. The rule is to add a comma right after the introductory portion.
Example: Because I’ve never used such a contraption in the past, I hurt myself when I used an electric toothbrush this morning.
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