Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel, Sparkle English, where I teach you how to improve
your level of English. This is a new video in my English writing essentials series. In
today's video, I'm going to talk about the listing comma, or how to use commas in a series. There are
several different rules that you need to know. And I'm going to teach you them one at a time.
Before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to Sparkle English for more
videos on how to improve your English grammar, writing, and speaking skills. Let's get started.
So we use a comma to split the items in a list of three or more items. This is called
a listing comma. Let's look at some examples. I like coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Now this
comma after tea and before the conjunction and is called the Oxford comma. And technically,
depending on the style guide you use, it is optional. In Canada and the US, we use
this comma here, but it's very common in the UK that they don't use this comma. There are many
reasons why you should use the Oxford comma. And I recommend you watch my video on the Oxford comma,
which you can see in the description below this video, but I will be using the Oxford comma in all
of my examples. The second example. Would you like cake, pie, or fruit? So in all of these examples,
we use a comma after each item in the list because it's a list of three or more items.
Listing commas can be replaced by and or or. So, for example, I like coffee and tea and hot
chocolate. Instead of saying and twice, we use a comma, which essentially replaces the and. Would
you like cake or pie or fruit? Instead of using or twice, we use a comma. We use commas to separate
a series of words such as nouns, adjectives, or verbs in a sentence. Example, we need balloons,
comma, cupcakes, comma, and games for the birthday party. This is a series of nouns.
Her boyfriend is handsome, comma, kind, comma and patient. And this we have a series of adjectives.
The puppy loves to eat, comma, run, comma, and play. And here we have a series of verbs.
All of these are separated by commas after each word before the final conjunction.
We can also use a comma to separate a series of phrases in a sentence. For example,
the boy yelled loudly comma, ran across the street comma, and climbed the tree to rescue his cat.
Here we have three different phrases that we are separating with commas. I have to
go to university comma write an essay comma and babysit my sister this evening.
Again, we have a series of phrases that we are separating with the listing comma.
You can also combine three or more complete sentences with listing commas plus and or or
for example, I studied English literature,
comma, John studied dramatic arts comma and Thor studied carpentry.
All of these are three complete sentences. I studied English literature is a complete
sentence. But we can combine these three sentences with listing commas, plus the conjunction
and or or. Now if this said I studied English literature, John studied dramatic arts period
and ended there, that would be incorrect. That would be a comma splice. You would have to put a
period here and make this two different sentences or add a semicolon. However, when you have three
or more complete sentences, plus a conjunction like and or or, we can use listing commas.
The next example, I live in Spain, comma, my brother lives in the United States, comma,
and my sister lives in Canada, period. Again, we have three complete sentences
that we are combining with listing commas, plus the conjunction and.
We can also use commas to separate multiple adjectives that describe the same noun when the
word and can be placed between them. For example, She is a clever comma ambitious woman. Here we
have two different adjectives that describe the same noun. She is a clever, ambitious woman.
We can replace the comma with and she is a clever and ambitious woman.
But to make this shorter, we can just add a comma. She is a clever, ambitious woman. Another example,
we had a long comma difficult week.
Again, we can use a listing comma, because both of these adjectives describe the same noun.
Okay, so now we're going to do a quiz, an eight question quiz. On the listing comma, you have to
correct the following sentences. Number one, should we buy crackers, chips or cookies?
Number two, my cat loves sleeping on the sofa, sitting in the sun and playing with toys.
Number three, I speak Spanish, Celine speaks French and Alfredo speaks Italian.
Number four, we had an exciting fun day at the amusement park. Number five,
Mom needs to buy flour, butter, sugar and eggs to make the cake for the party.
Number six, shall we go to the cinema or the beach? Number seven,
Jill wants to buy a new camera. Lee wants to get a computer. And finally number eight, the girl spent
their vacations swimming in the sea, dancing under the stars, and chatting to boys at the local pub.
Okay, now let's add some listing commas to these sentences. Number one, should we buy crackers,
comma, chips, comma, or cookies? We have a list of three different nouns, so we need to
add commas after the first two. Number two, my cat loves sleeping on the sofa, comma,
sitting in the sun, comma, and playing with toys. Here we have three different phrases. And
so we separate them with the listing comma. Number three, I speak Spanish comma, Celine speaks French
comma and Alfredo speaks Italian. Here we have three different sentences that we can combine
with the listing comma, because we have the conjunction and. Number four, we had an exciting
comma fun day at the amusement park. Here we have two different adjectives, exciting and fun,
that both are describing the noun day. And because we can replace the comma with and,
we had an exciting and fun day at the amusement park, we put a comma between these two adjectives.
Number five, mom needs to buy flour, comma, butter, comma, sugar, comma,
and eggs to make the cake for the party. Again, we have a list of four different items.
So we'll separate them with commas. Number six, shall we go to the cinema or the beach?
This does not need any corrections. We do not have a list of more than three items. We just have
cinema and beach. So we don't need to add any commas. If we had, shall we go to the cinema,
the restaurant or the beach? Then we would separate because we have a list of more
than three. But in this scenario, we only have two so we leave this alone as it is.
Number seven is incorrect. But how do we correct this? Jill wants to buy a new camera
comma. Lee wants to get a computer. This is a comma splice and a comma splice
is an error. You can remember that I've said we can use listing commas to combine sentences, three
or more sentences, with a conjunction. But this is only two sentences, and there is no conjunction.
We can fix this by turning the comma into a period and making it two separate sentences.
Or we can turn it into a semicolon. Or you could say Jill wants to buy a new camera, comma,
and Lee wants to get a computer, but you cannot leave the comma alone, because that's a comma
splice and it's incorrect. And finally, number eight, the girls spent their vacation swimming
in the sea comma, dancing under the stars, comma and chatting to boys at the local pub.
Again, we have a list of three different phrases. So we will separate them with listing commas.
Okay, so let me know in the comments section how many you got correct out of eight. If you
had any difficulties, I recommend you watch more of my English writing essential series.
I have many different videos on commas and how to use commas and more practice videos as well.
So check the description below this video for more links to more videos like this one, so you
can continue to practice your punctuation skills. Thank you guys once again for watching. Make sure
to subscribe to Sparkle English for more English lessons. And I will see you in my next lesson.