Mr. Maru and Sparky are on Twitter:

Sparky: @Mr.Maru If you are buying Delicious Doggy Chow is the best food.

Mr. Maru: @Sparky Huh? Buying Delicious Doggy Chow?

Sparky: @Mr.Maru Yes! Buy Delicious Doggy Chow please.

Mr. Maru: @Sparky That's expensive! Why can't you work?

Sparky: @Mr.Maru When you come home the paper is on the couch, right?

Mr. Maru: @Sparky Come home the paper?

Sparky: @Mr.Maru No, no, no... The paper is on the couch, right?

Mr. Maru: @Sparky Yes, but it's wet and some of the pages are missing.

Sparky: @Mr.Maru I like to read the most interesting latest sports articles.

Mr. Maru: @Sparky Me too!

When do you use a comma? Commas can help make you sound a lot clearer when you write. They break up the conversation. It is easier to understand writing when you use them. This is really important when you do writing online on different social media sites.

Comma Rules

There are several rules for the use of commas. We will talk about only a few today. The first one we will talk about is using a comma after an introductory word group or phrase. For example,

When the weather turns cold, the leaves start to turn red.

Excited about the big date the next day, Ray could not sleep at all.

Across the river next to the tree, we set up camp for the night.

If you are buying, Delicious Doggy Chow is the best food.
When you come home, the paper is on the couch, right?

The other rule in today's dialog is using commas to separate adjectives before a noun. You use a comma if these adjectives can have 'and' between them or be mixed up. For example,

She was an independent, smart, beautiful woman.

You can also say -

She was an independent and smart and beautiful woman. (You can put 'and' between the adjectives.) Or,

She was a smart, beautiful, independent woman. (You can mix the adjectives up.)

Be careful! We can not put a comma between compound nouns (e.g. sports articles, personal computer, mobile phone, …) or cumulative adjectives. For example,

Incorrect: He wore a long, brown, leather jacket. (leather describes jacket, brown describes leather jacket, long describes brown leather jacket)
Correct: He wore a long brown leather jacket.

Incorrect: There were three, small, orange balls in the box. (orange describes balls, small describes orange balls, three describes small orange balls)
Correct: There were three small orange balls in the box.

Are you ready for a quiz?

1) I want to buy the __________ personal computer.

A) convenient, easy-to-use, user-friendly

B) convenient easy-to-use user-friendly

C) convenient, easy-to-use and user-friendly

2) When you get to the apartment building___ call me and I'll let you in.

A) , (comma)

B) X (nothing)

3) He just bought a ___________ car.

A) fast red sports

B) fast, red, sports

C) fast, red sports

Answers

1) A) – these adjectives can be mixed up. (e.g. easy-to-use user-friendly convenient personal computer)

2) A) - we need to separate the introductory group of words.

3) A) – we can not mix the adjectives, so we can not use a comma.

Corrected Script

Sparky: @Mr.Maru If you are buying, Delicious Doggy Chow is the best food.

Mr. Maru: @Sparky Huh? Buying Delicious Doggy Chow?

Sparky: @Mr.Maru Yes! Buy Delicious Doggy Chow please.

Mr.Maru: @Sparky That's expensive! Why can't you work?

Sparky: @Mr.Maru When you come home, the paper is on the couch, right?

Mr.Maru: @Sparky Come home the paper?

Sparky: @Mr.Maru No, no, no... The paper is on the couch, right?

Mr.Maru: @Sparky Yes, but it's wet and some of the pages are missing.

Sparky: @Mr.Maru I like to read the most interesting, latest sports articles.

Mr.Maru: @Sparky Me too!

Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions about a grammar point or something confusing in English please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Thanks!