How To Use Commas When Listing
While there s some degree of flexibility in how commas are used it s important to have a clear grasp of the rules.
How to use commas when listing. When the last comma in a series comes before and or or after daughter in law in the above example it is known as the oxford comma most newspapers and magazines drop the oxford comma in a simple series apparently. For example here is a list separated by commas. The commas between these items are signals. If you have a series of three or more items use commas to separate each item. You need commas between each item on the list with one important exception.
My estate goes to my husband son daughter in law and nephew. Use commas to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items. First it is used in a list when three or more words phrases or even complete sentences are joined by the word and or or. When writing a list you should put a comma between each item except for the last item where you use and. Commas can be a particularly tricky punctuation mark.
Use commas to separate things in a list or series. At the store i will buy apples oranges pears and bananas. This comma is called the serial comma or the oxford comma. We might call this construction an x y and z list. Charlie has to buy flashlight batteries breath butter cookies breath ice cream breath and cake.
Place a comma between each item in the list unless you are writing in associated press style. Use commas when writing a list of at least three words phrases or clauses in a sentence. Commas are used to separate list items. The listing comma is used as a kind of substitute for the word and or sometimes for or it occurs in two slightly different circumstances. There are some cases where you know you should use a comma such as when separating items in a list but there are other times when you might be unsure whether or not a comma is needed.
However the final comma the one that comes before the and is optional. The three musketeers were athos porthos and aramis. As mentioned above when you are listing three or more items commas should separate each element of the list. I need to go to the supermarket to buy eggs milk bread sugar and. They can also be used when listing complex ideas or phrases that use commas within them.