Commas are conventions used to separate or combine chunks of information into units that readers can comfortably handle. You'll find two different methods of how to tell whether you need commas in the two sections below -- Using Structural Clues and Using Your Ear. The section Using Your Ear will help you understand what works. The section Using Structural Clues will explain why and may help you solve tricky problems when you're unsure about what your ear tells you.
You can begin in either section. Scroll through the sample sentences until you find one that resembles the one you're writing or have a question about. If you don't see one that looks the same, read through the rest of the information to see if your situation is discussed. We've used the same examples in both sections and provided bookmarks in Using Your Ear to information in Using Structural Clues.
In English, conventions of punctuation are closely tied to language structure. So it's helpful to ask yourself whether you are separating or combining information. If not, you probably don't need a comma. If so, ask yourself if what you want to do falls into any of the categories discussed on this page.
Some experts believe that "[t]he conventions of punctuation reflect only crudely [our emphasis] -- if at all -- the pauses and intonational patterns that occur in speech" (Greenbaum, 1996, p. 505).
We disagree.
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