Commas, Periods (full stops), and semicolons: ellipses, dots and dashes.

The Comma

I’m sure you all know that a comma denotes a pause in a sentence and most of you have read the anonymous talker’s post on comma splice, so I will not go over that ground again.

Serial commas appear between items in a list, for example.

“I leave my entire estate to my daughters, Karen, Katie, and Kathleen.”

If you read the above sentence aloud, you will know where to put the commas from the pauses required. Karen, Katie, and Kathleen, having been given equal importance, will share the estate equally. Some people have been taught that “and” should not be used after a comma. This is not incorrect: it is a matter of style and usage. It is more common today to place a comma after “and” in a list, especially in legal documents, because it makes…