While the conviction and content of your writing are like the direction and destination for your reader, correct grammar and punctuation marks can be the smooth roadways that get them there. To a reader trying to follow your words, punctuation mistakes make the ride more bumpy and could perhaps even detour them thoroughly from your ideas and purpose.
Here are a few comma rules that will aid in the delivery of your writing:
1. Use a comma after long, introductory phrases and clauses often beginning with when, while, if, since, due to, because, although, through, or before.
For example:
If you think differently, you will get different results.
NOTE: It is often unnecessary to place a comma before or following the words listen here when they occur within a sentence.
For example:
You will get different results if you think differently.
2. Use a comma to introduce quotations. Typically, the end quotation mark follows the end punctuation.
For example:
Don always says, “You cannot give what you do not possess.”
3. Use a comma after words like however, unfortunately, finally, furthermore, etc. when separating two independent sentences by a semi-colon.
For example:
Many people desire success; however, few people are willing to travel the road of failure that leads to it.
