How To Use Commas When Listing Multiple Items

That man is a pompous self righteous annoying idiot.

How to use commas when listing multiple items. The cake mix requires flour sugar eggs and butter. Commas customarily indicate a brief pause. Hilda was back in a few moments wearing a long gray squirrel coat and a broad fur hat. When there are two items in a list don t use a comma to separate the list items unless it helps your reader. You need commas between each item on the list with one important exception.

For more on this see rule 8. Two cotton handkerchiefs some brass trinkets and a little. If each item is comprised of only one or two words the last comma is optional. Numbers aren t separated from other descriptions or from the word s that they describe. 2 the last comma is needed to turn a series with two possible interpretations into a series with only one clear interpretation and meaning.

If you have a series of three or more items use commas to separate each item. More descriptive words that you shouldn t separate from other descriptions or from the words that they describe include other. Commas with two list items. In a series the comma before the conjunction is optional unless 1 there are three or more items in the series and the items are long. Please buy bread and milk.

One way to tell whether the adjectives are coordinate is to try switching the order of them. When you read the list aloud the commas emerge as breaths. Use a comma after an introductory word or phrase. If the sentence still sounds natural the adjectives are coordinate. Alexander s bridge willa cather when there are more than two items use commas between each item.

Commas are used to separate items in a list. Don t put a comma after a number. Delicately gracefully and joyfully the ballerina twirled onto the stage include a comma between each independent clause you list in a sentence. This probably the first use of commas you learned in school. The comma helps the reader.