Commas with Sentence Tags, Conjunctive Adverbs, Parenthetical Elements, and Interrupters

1. Commas with Sentence Tags, Conjunctive Adverbs, Parenthetical Elements, and Interrupters

2. Commas: stoplights in the traffic of your writing • Punctuation marks such as commas are signposts used to construct and support the meaning of your writing. Commas serve as interrupters or signals to the reader to pause. • If those signposts are missing, your meaning is obstructed, and misunderstandings may lead to collisions of thought in the mind of your reader.

3. The Dramatic Pause Theory • Do not place commas according to where you, the writer, would pause. • Instead, place commas according to the following guidelines, which signal the reader to pause.

4. Use commas to separate sentence tags from the rest of the sentence. • He’s going to Rome in August, isn’t he? • It doesn’t have four legs, does it? • You skipped class today, didn’t you? • I had a car accident, that’s why.

5. Commas with parenthetical elements and interrupters • Use a comma to separate parenthetical words, phrases, or clauses from the rest of the sentence. • A parenthetical element—an interrupter—is a word or word group that often interrupts your sentence and may be omitted without affecting the meaning of the sentence.

6. More commas with parenthetical elements and interrupters • Don’t forget to place commas before and after the interrupter! • Traffic signal management, on the whole, has been a problem on campus. • The Sabaru Justy, it seems, is very much like the Ford Festiva. • The cafeteria menu, in fact, has a variety of items. • Barbara Jordan is, in my opinion, a prolific and eloquent orator. • We will, of course, honor Dr. Brown posthumously and present the award to his widow after the service.

7. Commas with conjunctive adverbs • Common conjunctive adverbs include however, therefore, thus, for example, moreover, nevertheless, and furthermore; moreover, their purpose is to mark a shift or contrast in the sentence. • Use commas to separate them from the rest of the sentence: • You are, moreover, entirely correct in your statement. • Today, we cross the country in a few hours by plane; however, our ancestors spent months making the trip in covered wagons. • Thus, the Gothic novel has supernatural, ghostly, and mysterious themes.

8. Direct traffic! • We will therefore, have to operate. • The meeting on the whole went well. • He has, in fact been missing for three days. • The dog however lost its bone in the fight. • You missed your doctor’s appointment didn’t you? • As time passed furthermore Mike made many enemies. • I will of course complete the graduation requirements this spring semester.

9. Solutions! • We will, therefore, have to operate. • The meeting, on the whole, went well. • He has, in fact, been missing for three days. • The dog, however, lost its bone in the fight. • You missed your doctor’s appointment, didn’t you? • As time passed, furthermore, Mike made many enemies. • I will, of course, complete the graduation requirements this spring semester.