Well, clearly, we need to discuss commas.

English with Lucy

301

- Hello, lovely students

and welcome back to English with Lucy.

Today I have an advanced grammar lesson for you.

This is suitable for both learners of English

and native English speakers.

We're going to cover a topic that we get wrong all the time.

Commas, before we get started,

I would just like to mention

that we are running a special offer

on our Advanced Grammar Challenge.

This is an amazing 30-day challenge that covers

over 50 of the most common advanced grammar mistakes.

In just 30 days, you will have a grammar transformation.

It's a video based course

with lots of exercises

and a teacher-led support community for questions.

We cover topics like intensifiers,

the subjunctive, advanced comparatives,

mixed conditionals, punctuation,

the works, your grammar issues solved.

If you would like to see the special price

and to join, click on the link in the description box,

but hurry, the offer ends soon.

Right, let's get started with the lesson.

I love eating my family and not using commas.

I'm sure you'll know by now,

that commas are extremely important pieces of punctuation.

In fact, in that sentence,

they're the difference between having normal hobbies

and cannibalism.

It should, of course be,

I love eating, my family

and not using commas.

I'm going to talk to you about the four ways

we use commas in English.

Number one, is lists.

This is the usage that you're probably most familiar with.

We use commas to separate items in a list,

when the comma could be replaced with the word 'and'

or sometimes 'or'.

For example, please, can you pick up some bread, milk

and cheese while you're in town?

Or, we spent the evening eating Indian food,

watching a great film and chatting about their travels.

In British English, it's not as common

to put the comma before the and,

but in American English, it is common to do so.

For example, I've been to California, Nevada,

The exception to this in British English

is that you should use the comma

if it will make your meaning clearer.

For example, I love listening to artists from the seventies

like The Who, The Eagles, and Simon and Garfunkel.

In this case, Simon and Garfunkel worked together,

so adding a comma, makes it clearer.

Another legendary example of this

is I invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin.

It would be better to write.

I invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin.

Without the comma after JFK,

it sounds like the two men, are strippers,

which they were likely not.

When the first noun in the list

could describe the nouns following it,

always use a comma.

When we have coordinate adjectives, we can use a comma.

This only works if the adjectives can be separated by 'and'

without changing the meaning of the sentence.

For example, it was a terrifying, haunting ride.

It was a terrifying and haunting ride.

This sentence does not use commas.

I love ancient French clocks.

Ancient and French cannot be separated by 'and',

so we don't use a comma.

Number two, separating clauses.

We also use commas to separate two independent clauses

that could be joined with for,

The acronym to remember

these coordinating conjunctions is FANBOYS.

For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so

It was a wonderful day out,

and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Or, the coffee is excellent in Australia,

but I've always preferred tea.

Or, we sold everything, so we managed to make a profit.

If the clauses are short, you can leave out the comma.

It's up to you to decide whether they are short enough.

For example, I cooked and Joe cleaned.

When you have a subordinating clause

at the beginning of a sentence,

it is usually followed by a comma.

If you need anything, let me know.

Although he invented something very important,

most people don't know his name.

However, when the subordinating clause

is in the second half of the sentence,

we generally don't use a conjunction.

For example, they gave me some water because I was parched.

Because I was parched, they gave me some water.

We need to talk about the comma splice.

Doesn't that sound exciting?

The comma splice.

A really common mistake is using a comma

to join two independent clauses without using a conjunction.

Sometimes, it's better to use a semicolon

or even a full stop in these situations.

Here is an example of a comma splice.

This is incorrect.

I can't go out tonight, I have to be up early tomorrow.

I can't and I have to, are two independent clauses

and a comma simply doesn't have the power

to join them together.

There are several different ways,

you could punctuate this sentence.

I can't go out tonight.

I have to be up early tomorrow.

Or, I can't go out tonight.

I have to be up early tomorrow.

And finally, we could insert a word.

I can't go out tonight as I have to be up early tomorrow.

Here are some more examples of comma splices to avoid.

The flowers were beautiful, they smelt incredible.

Everyone should make at least one dish,

however, some people might want to make more.

Note that, however, is a conjunctive adverb

not a coordinating or subordinating conjunction.

And you can't use it to join sentences.

Other adverbs like this are nevertheless, my favourite,

moreover, therefore,

and furthermore.

The correct punctuation for this is with a full stop

or a semicolon before however.

Number three, isolating.

These types of commas are the ones

that people make the most mistakes with.

We use isolating commas when a word

or several words in a sentence could be taken out

without changing the meaning.

This is very often around names.

When we are addressing someone directly.

Tina, you really excelled yourself today!

Or, take these plates with you, Bob, please.

We also use commas after exclamations.

Well, that wasn't very satisfactory!

Or, oh, is that Allen over there?

And finally we use them with non-essential appositives.

For example, Lucy's dog, Diego, won a prize recently.

He won third place in the village.

Best trick competition.

I was devastated.

Okay and, Jun was a good, even great, tennis player.

You could take out the information in commas

and the sentence would still make sense.

But be careful with this.

This sentence is not correct.

I stood up on stage,

and feeling a little stupid, started speaking.

You must put the comma after 'and'

to ensure that without the information in commas,

the sentence is still correct.

I stood up on stage and,

feeling a little stupid, started speaking.

We can remove feeling a little stupid.

I stood up on stage and started speaking.

It still makes sense.

We can also use commas in non-defining relative clauses.

I'll only mention this briefly,

because I mention relative clauses in another lesson.

And I'll link to that lesson in the description box.

I have a complete lesson on clauses.

Finally, I want to talk to you about direct speech.

We use a comma before or after direct speech.

Look at these examples.

Somchai shouted, "Where are you going?"

"I love you," said Dylan.

Notice that in the first example,

the comma is outside the speech marks,

while in the second, it's inside.

It can be quite confusing

that this is used more in American English

because it's often referred to as The Oxford comma.

Sometimes it's called The Harvard comma,

or The Serial comma.

In British English, we only tend to use it,

if it would be unclear otherwise.

Nowadays, it's also a stylistic choice.

So certain publications will favour using it all the time.

Right, that's it for today's lesson.

If you found that useful,

I think the advanced grammar challenge

will be perfect for you.

The link to join

and to see the special offer price

is in the description box.

Hurry, that ends soon.

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

I've got my Instagram, English with Lucy

and my personal one at Lucy.

You can also check out all of my English courses.

There are so many there to choose from.

I will see you soon for another lesson.