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The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

Category: Commas

What Is a Comma Splice?

Posted on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, at 6:00 am

Imagine you are driving down the road in your car. Picture the signs, lights, and symbols you see on the way to help you know where to go at which speed, as well as when to stop and go. Now envision what your route would be like if those indicators were absent or misplaced. Punctuation …

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What Is the Vocative Case in English?

Posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 6:00 am

Would you please hand me that flower vase, my dear? Joaquin, how much rice does the recipe call for? You know, my friend, I'm not sure if we're going to make it on time. Most of us are familiar with expressions like these. We might also communicate in similar ways when writing salutations such as …

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Do Therefore, Moreover, and Furthermore Need Commas?

Posted on Monday, December 12, 2022, at 6:00 am

Therefore, moreover, and furthermore are curious words in modern English. They appear often enough to make us somewhat familiar with their usage and meaning. At the same time, they are deployed rarely enough (and with a classical feeling) such that we might not always be sure we're using them correctly. That leads us to today's …

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When to Use (and Not Use) a Comma Before Which

Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 6:00 am

Writing and speaking in American English often includes the relative pronouns which and that. We use these words to provide essential and nonessential (also known as restrictive and nonrestrictive) information that further explains or identifies. The distinction between which and that was once more established within daily formal writing. The word which was used for …

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However Comma: The Truth When It Comes to Punctuation

Posted on Monday, August 1, 2022, at 6:00 am

Have you ever found yourself wondering whether you need a comma before or after the word however? If so, you aren't alone. This is a minor point of grammar that is often questioned, debated, and searched. It can sometimes even be difficult to find a good answer online. We are going to fix that in …

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Commas in Lists

Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at 6:00 am

American English is rife with details concerning written style. One common item concerns how to punctuate lists and particularly whether to include commas in them. In this review, we'll consider ways you can approach presenting content in lists. Our focus will be on lists in a vertical format as opposed to in sentence form (e.g., …

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What Are Correlative Conjunctions?

Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, at 6:00 am

A conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses. The two types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Correlative conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions used in pairs. They connect two items of equal rank and grammatical unit. Some common correlative conjunctions include: either…or neither…nor both…and not only…but also as…so rather…than …

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Should You Use a Comma After Hello?

Posted on Monday, January 24, 2022, at 6:00 am

Suppose you’re writing an email or a letter. Should you use a comma after the word Hello, or is another treatment more fitting? We’ll help you arrive at the answer. Why or Why Not to Use a Comma After Hello Confusion can surround this matter of style, and guiding answers might not always be clear. …

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Run-On Sentences

Posted on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, at 6:00 am

Many of us have seen a run-on sentence or what we thought might be one. Even if we couldn't explain technically why it was a run-on, we intuited that such a sentence included elements that were either improperly joined or insufficiently separated. In this discussion, we'll further review run-on sentences as well as different ways …

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Coordinating Conjunctions

Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at 6:00 am

A coordinating conjunction is a word that connects other words or phrases as well as clauses of equal rank. The seven coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. (One way to remember them is by using the acronym FANBOYS as a mnemonic device: For And Nor But Or Yet So.) We …

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