Common Verb Error

COMMAS

Using commas correctly leads to recognizable sentence structures.
These BASIC sentences DO NOT require structural commas.  Do not feel sorry for these sentences because they don’t have commas.  They are just fine!!!

Simple sentences:  1 independent clause

• I laughed.  (simple)
• Gas prices have increased dramatically.  (simple)
• A Chinese skater won a gold medal. (simple)
• To Kill A Mockingbird is a wonderful book. (simple)
• The teacher read the class a story. (simple)
• I saw the bird over by the tree on the other side of the park. (simple)

Complex sentence:  1 independent clause + 1 or more dependent clause(s) AT THE END

• The crowd cheered because their team had won.
• She didn’t know the real reason for the meeting until she saw the agenda.
• Thomas Paine wrote “The Crisis” so he could boost morale for the American Revolution.
• Peter will wait while we go into the bank.
• Martin Luther King spoke eloquently when he gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech.
• We need to go to the library which is on the other side of town.
• Walden is the book that became Thoreau’s masterpiece.
• Emily Dickinson is the poet who was a recluse  because she felt out of place in society.

STRUCTURAL COMMAS

Using commas correctly leads to recognizable sentence structures.

Add a STRUCTURAL COMMA if you are adding something to the FRONT of a sentence (an introductory element)

1. A TRANSITIONAL EXPRESSION OR INTRODUCTORY WORD A transitional expression provides a logical flow of ideas throughout a composition by linking sentences and paragraphs. An introductory word can simply introduce a sentence.  

• Yes, the planners obtained the proper permit.
• Well, come on in and join the party.
• Thankfully, the boys found their dog.
• Unfortunately, we will not have a table available for two hours.
• Furthermore, I agree with the president’s position
• On the contrary, he is your friend and not your enemy.
• For example, the Puritans were among those who came to the New World for religious reasons.
• However, I do not with agree with the editorial in the New York Times.

2. AN ADVERB DEPENDENT CLAUSE.  An adverb dependent clause has a subject and a verb but does NOT express a complete thought.  An adverb dependent clause is a dependent clause that answers the questions “When?”  “How?”  “Where?” “How often?” “To what extent?” and “Under what circumstance?”’

• After we lost the ball game, we got in the car for the long drive home.
• Before he wrote Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain worked on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.
• When Abraham Lincoln died, Walt Whitman wrote an elegy called “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”
• Unless your friend shows up soon, we will have to leave without him.
• If I can get my grades up, my mother said she would buy me a car.
• Although most people know Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, they don’t know that he wrote a book of aphorisms called Poor Richard’s Almanac.
• Since the dog needs exercise, we will take him on a walk when we get home.

3. continued…Add a STRUCTURAL COMMA if you are adding something to the FRONT of a sentence (an introductory element)

   TWO OR MORE PREPOPSITIONAL PHRASES A prepositional phrase is a phrase that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun.

• In the first round of competition at the golf tournament, I had to play the best golfer in the state.
• At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, he scored a touchdown.

q  Note:  A single introductory prepositional phrase need not be followed by a comma unless can be considered transitional.

• Example:  On the other hand, I don’t want to offend her.