Commas, semicolons, colons

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Commas, semi-colons, colons

• By Hsinping Dai

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Commas

• Commas indicate direct quoted speech
• Commas go inside quotation marksHe said, Lets
  go, and we did. He said we should go, and we
  did.
• Commas set off transitional phrasesMany people,
  however, are allergic to cats.
• Commas come before coordinating conjunctions
  (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)She felt
  terrible, but she went to concert anyway.

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Commas

• Commas follow introductory adverb clauses and
  introductory phrasesOn the way home, I stopped
  to buy groceries.
• Commas separate items in a series, including
  coordinate adjectivesHe brought bananas,
  apples, oranges and cheese.
• Commas set off nonrestrictive adjective clauses
  and other parenthetic elementsHikers need
  sturdy shoes, which may be expensive.

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Commas (when not to use)

• Do not separate dependent clauses (incomplete
  sentences)Incorrect Joe and Jill, went to the
  store.Correct Joe and Jill went to the store.
• Do not separate two elementsIncorrect I went
  home, and went to bed. Correct I went home and
  went to bed.
• Do not separate cumulative adjectives (Try
  inserting the word and or reversing the
  positions of the adjectives. If the sentence is
  confusing, do not use a comma)Incorrect I
  bought two, more apples.Correct I bought two
  more apples.

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Semicolons

• Semicolons connect two independent clauses
  (complete sentences) that are closely
  relatedThe book is informative it has helpful
  charts and graphs.
• Semicolons separate three or more items in a
  series that already have commas in themI like
  big, purple shirts red, high-heeled shoes and
  fluffy, yellow pillows.
• Semicolons go outside quotation marksHe had
  heard about oleo he didnt know what it was.

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Colons

• Colons come after independent clauses they may
  be followed by lists, words, phrases, clauses, or
  complete sentencesShe traveled to the
  following countries England, Italy, and Japan.
• Colons go outside quotation marksHe explained
  oleo its a non-dairy butter substitute.

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Thank you