Uso De Comas En Inglés

OWL at Purdue University: Proofreading for Commas: Print Versions

Proofreading for Commas

Compound Sentence Commas

1. Skim your paper, looking only for the seven coordinating conjunctions:and, nor, but, so, for, or, and yet.

2. Stop at each of these words to see whether there is an independent clause (a complete sentence), on both sides of it.

3. If so, place a comma beforethe coordinating conjunction. Examples:

* She wanted to buy a new car, but she didn't have enough money to do so.
* The wind blew fiercely, and the rain poured down.
* Alaska was not thelast state admitted into the US, nor does it have the lowest total population.

Comma Splices

1. Skim your paper, stopping at every comma.

2. See whether you have an independent clause (asentence) on both sides of the comma.

3. If so, change the sentence in one of the following ways:

I. Reword the sentence to change one clause into a subordinate (or dependent) clause
II. Adda coordinating conjunction after the comma
III. Replace the comma with a semicolon
IV. Replace the comma with a period, question mark, or exclamation point, and capitalize the first word ofthe second clause

Comma splice: Americans speak too rapidly, this is a common complaint by foreign visitors.
Correct: Americans speak too rapidly; this is a common complaint by foreign visitors.Correct: Foreign visitors commonly complain that Americans speak too rapidly.

Introductory Commas

Introductory commas after dependent clauses

1. Skim your paper, looking only at the first twoor three words of each sentence.

2. Stop if one of these words is a dependent marker such as while, because, when, if, after, when, etc.

3. If necessary, place a comma at the end of theintroductory dependent clause. Examples:

* While I was writing, the phone rang.
* Because the weather was bad, we decided to cancel our planned picnic.
* After the last guests left the party,...