Introductory Commas

College students often forget to add an introductory comma to their sentences. 11.5% of college students will forget to add an introductory comma to their sentences, according to a 1988 study (Connors, R. J., & Lunsford, A. A., 1988). An introductory comma introduces an action, a subject, or a previous idea, and makes them easier to see.

Now how do college students know where to find an introductory comma?  Let us explore these three situations.

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Lonely Clause

Some introductory commas are in sentences that start with a lonely clause. A lonely clause is a clause that relies on the other part of the sentence in order to work.

The lonely clauses are underlined in the next two examples. Notice how a comma joins the lonely clause to the rest of the sentence.

• “We will throw you a party, because you want to take time off.”
• “We will work harder, if we want to win.”

An introductory comma comes after a lonely clause. If we change the above examples so that they have the introductory commas, they will look like this.

• “Because you want to take time off, we will throw you a party.”
• “If we want to win, we will work harder.”

The introductory commas are needed because they introduce information in a lonely clause. A lonely clause that has an introductory comma will always start with an adverb such as after, although, as, because, before, if, since, though, until, when, etc. (Lunsford, A., 2008).

Introductory Phrase

An introductory comma also appears after an introductory phrase. An introductory phrase is a phrase that comes before the main subject. Unlike a lonely clause, an introductory phrase lacks the main subject of the sentence.

The introductory phrases are underlined in the next two examples. Notice that the introductory phrases lack the main subject of the sentence.

• “To beat the game and claim the prize, you must understand the rules.”
• “A new person in town, Jake was lost."

Introductory Word

An introductory comma also appears after an introductory word. An introductory word is a word that creates flow from one sentence to another.

• “He tried to think of his opponent’s next move. Meanwhile, his opponent knew he had already won.”
• “Michael Phelps won many Olympic gold medals in swimming. Therefore, he is a good swimmer.”

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Review

When to Use an Introductory Comma

• After a lonely clause that starts a sentence
• After an introductory phrase
• After an introductory word

When to Avoid an Introductory Comma

• The introductory phrase is fewer than five words
• “To get ahead Frank painted the shelves."
• The introductory comma separates the subject from the main verb
• “Quickly he ran to the stop sign realizing that it had fallen.”

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Sources

Want more practice? Check the top of the page for practice problems.

Blog Introduction

This blog is for college students who wish to improve how they write. College students are welcome to use this blog to study better writing. For better writing, the help articles within this blog teach college students what they will use in the creative writing and technical writing career fields.

On the blog, students in college will find practice problems that will make them feel confident of their ability to find and remove mistakes in written works. The practice problems come with an answer key found on this blog. On the blog, the answer key is on the top row, third button from the left.

Most importantly, this blog encourages and gives college students that necessary freedom to ask for the live writing help that this blog’s owner provides free of charge. The live writing help works through the support software called Zopim.

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Conclusion

This blog focuses on the top five most common writing errors. These top five most common writing errors were found in 300 undergraduate papers in a 1988 case study (Connors, R. J., & Lunsford, A. A., 1988). The most common writing errors were in the usage of commas.

This blog covers style issues that turn text into weasel writing. Weasel writing is text that makes readers work harder to learn the text’s meaning. Readers must be able to learn the meaning easily when they read, and for technical writers this task is their daily job. Technical writers will learn methods that will make their writing clear, concise, and effective. Creative writers will learn ways to shorten the time they have to spend on drafts.

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Sources