We use the comma...
To separate words, phrases or clauses in a list.
- She purchased cream, eggs, butter, salt and flour.
- We looked in the basement, under the porch, behind the shed and in the attic.
- Russia won the gold medal, China took home the silver, and Germany came in third place with the bronze.
To link two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction (and,but, so, or, for, nor, yet)
- He said he was going to win, and I believed him.
- She can speak Japanese fairly well, yet she cannot read a word of it.
After an introductory word, phrase, or clause.
- However, most citizens did not agree with the new policy.
- In my opinion, it was not his best performance.
- Because he had no experience, he did not get the position.
To add a word, phrase or clause into the middle, or at the end, of a sentence.
- Most citizens, however, did not agree with the new policy.
- It was not, in my opinion, his best performance.
- The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, which is located on the Halifax waterfront, boasts one of the world’s finest collections of artifacts from the Titanic.
To separate information in dates.
- She was born on Friday, June 16, 1983.
To separate information in an address.
- Send a self-addressed envelope to 98 Torwood Street, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, E1B 2K5.
With quotation marks.
- “Try again tomorrow,” he suggested.
- “When I give you the signal,” she whispered, “press this button.”