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Commas

Remember the old saying that when you take a breath you
should add a comma.

Not true!! There really are rules and none of them have to do with breathing.

Use a comma to

• Set off an introductory word, phrase, or clause
  
  "Haltingly, Jim answered the question in class."
  "Even though tired from lack of sleep, Sally made an a on her Greek test."
  
  
• Separate clauses in compound sentences (make sure you also use a coordinating conjunction)
  
  "Alan build a snowman yesterday, and he also shoveled the driveway."
  
  
• Set off nonrestrictive elements (clauses, phrases, and words that do not limit the words they modify)
  
  "Gene March, who attended Austin Seminary, is a wonderful  professor and a great asset to LPTS."
  • "Who attended Austin Seminary" is not essential to the meaning of the sentence because it does not limit who it modifies.
  • If there were two Gene Marchs at LPTS then "who attended Austin Seminary" would be essential information distinguishing between the two Genes and the commas would not be added.
    
    
• Set off appositives (a noun or phrase that renames a nearby     noun)
   "John Grisham's new book, Skipping Christmas, is an easy  read about a middle age couple who decide to forgo all the  social conventions of Christmas."
  
  
• Separate three or more items in a series (back to the "old" way of doing it!)
  
  "Spring semester I am taking Scripture II, CHATS, and NT Exegesis.
  
• Introduce a quotation
  "Raymond Brown opines that, 'NT writing about Jesus and his disciples relate a story enacted on the stage of history.'

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