Commas in a series

Put a comma to separate words in a series of three or more items.

I saw a lion, an elephant, and a monkey at the zoo.

Dates

Put a comma to separate the weekday, month, day, and year.

Put a comma to separate a date in a sentence.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

On Thursday, August 29, 2019, she went to the store.

Places

Put a comma to separate a city from its state.

Put a comma to separate a city and state in a sentence.

Columbus, Ohio

The zoo in Columbus, Ohio, has many types of animals.

Addresses

Put a comma to separate a road, city, and state in an address.

4850 W. Powell Rd., Powell, OH 43065

Quotes

Put a comma when attributing quotes.

Attribution before the quote - the comma is outside the quotation marks

Attribution after the quote - the comma is inside the quotation marks.

The student said, "I saw a panda."

"I saw a panda," she said.

Conjunctions

Put a comma before any coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) that joins two independent clauses (sentences).

I went to the zoo, and I saw an elephant.

Adverbs

Put a comma after introductory adverbs or adverb phrases.

Sadly, I got sock and couldn't go to the zoo.

On the other hand, I was able to finish my homework.

Interjections

Put a comma when the first word of the sentence is an interjection.

Yes, I saw the otter at the zoo.

Oops, I spilled my glass of water!

Direct addressing

Put a comma when you directly address someone or something in a sentence.

Ryan, did you see the python at the zoo?

Consecutive adjectives

Put a comma to separate consecutive adjectives that modify the same noun.

I saw the colorful, graceful peacocks when I went to the zoo.

Interrupters

Put a comma around little thoughts in the middle of a thought. This shows emotion, tone, or emphasis.

We saw a monkey, the one with the white stripe, jump from tree to tree.