Comma – Part II
To separate adjectives used in the predicative position
Adjectives used in the predicative position are always separated by commas.
He is tall, dark and handsome.
That was a lovely, long, cool drink.
Sometimes commas are not used between the last two adjectives which are usually
separated by a conjunction like and or or.
Commas are sometimes dropped between short adjectives.
In direct speech
A comma is generally used between a reporting verb and a piece of direct speech.
Looking at the painting, she said, ‘I like this one.’
If the reporting verb follows a piece of direct speech, we usually use a comma instead of a
full stop before the closing quotation mark.
‘I don’t like this,‘ said Jane.
Numbers
Large numbers are often divided into groups of three figures by using commas.
Examples are:
5,768 (NOT 5.768)
6, 567, 873
Commas are sometimes not used in four figure numbers.
5,378 or 5378
Commas are never used in dates.
The Year 1953 (NOT The Year 1,953)
Cases where commas are not used
Commas are not used before that, what, where etc in indirect speech structures.
Nobody realized that the child was missing. (NOT Nobody realized, that the child …)
She didn’t know what to do. (NOT She didn’t know, what to do.)
Commas are not used between two grammatically independent sentences. Instead we use a
full stop or a semicolon.
The blue dress was cheap. On the other hand, the pink dress was better. OR The blue dress
was cheap; on the other hand, the pink dress was better. (NOT The blue dress was cheap, on
the other hand, …)