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Commas signal to your reader to pause very slightly while reading. This can help make the individual parts of a sentence clearer in meaning. It also shows how sentences are split up, and separates words in a list.

For example:

• The kitten was cute, fluffy and cuddly.
• To make a perfect cup of tea, you need a teabag, sugar, milk and hot water.
• Jones, the baker, is now also the candlestick maker.
• Sam Haskins, who broke his leg in that car accident, still managed to pass all his exams.

Sentence separation and comma splicing

A common mistake in writing is to place a comma where in fact a full stop is needed. This creates an over-long sentence. This misuse of the comma creates what is called a 'comma splice'. Aim to avoid comma splices in your writing.

When you proofread your work, highlight each comma and decide whether it is needed, or whether a full-stop would be more effective.

Look at the example below:

The room filled with smoke, I froze in panic.

This is an example of comma splice. The comma in the middle should not be there because each half is a complete sentence in its own right.

So in fact you should use two full sentences, each ending with a full stop. This makes for two shorter but much livelier, sentences:

The room filled with smoke. I froze in panic.

Alternatively - you could use a conjunction (joining word) to connect the two sentences:

The room filled with smoke and I froze in panic.

OR – when the two sentences are closely linked in some way, you could use a semi-colon:

The room filled with smoke; I froze in panic.