Quick Grammar Guide

The Comma

1. Place a comma after a full date (Month, Day, Year) or a location (City, State).

Examples:

• On October 31, 2012, many little kids all over the United States will go trick-or-treating.
• Last night in San Fransisco, California*, thousands of baseball fans took to the streets to celebrate the Giants' World Series victory!
• *This rule only applies if it is in the format of "City, State" or "City, Country" or "State, Country."

 2. Commas & Clauses

• Dependent Clause, Independent Clause
• Examples:
• At my birthday party on Wednesday, I ate a really yummy chocolate cake.
• If Clark and Lois dress up for Halloween, I hope they think of using a Superman theme for their costumes.
• When Bennett got down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage, Meredith was shocked.
• If you fix the plumbing, we will agree to the rental agreement.

• Independent Clause, [conjunction] Independent Clause
• Molly is the singer in the band, and Desmond wants to marry Molly.
• The taxi never came, so we took the subway.
• Wait for me at the library, or walk and meet me at the science building.
• I love opera music, but he loves rap music. I'm not sure how far this relationship will go.
• *Exception to this rule: When two or more verbs share the same subject, they do not need a comma. We distinguish these from two independent clauses and call them compound predicates.
• Examples:
• She washed the dishes in the sink and vacuumed the rugs in the den.
• He read the morning news and drank his coffee.
• **Independent clauses must include a conjunction. If a comma is included without a conjunction, we call that a comma splice. 


• Independent Clause [no comma] Dependent Clause (*If a sentence begins with an independent clause, you do not need to include a dependent clause.)
• Examples:
• We will agree to the rental agreement if you fix the plumbing.
• Meredith was shocked when Bennett got down on one knee to ask for her hand in marriage.
• However . . . if the dependent clause is just an aside or after thought, you do need to include a comma.
• At last he arrived, when the ice cream had melted.
• I'd like to sit at the front of the roller coaster, if you don't mind.

Capitalization Tips

Capitalize these:
Internet
World Wide Web
Facebook
iPad
iPhone
Twitter

Never capitalize these:
website
webpage
web
email
tweet