brendan-c on flickr John ate a slice of pepperoni pizza, and drank a bottle of beer. If that sentence doesn't make you involuntarily scowl, then you do not have a proper understanding of commas. Yet ...

In the first part of the series on “Understanding the conventions of academic writing”, I discussed these two common error patterns: i) Missing comma after ...

Use a comma to separate two independent clauses when they are joined by one of seven coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). We were out of ice cream, so I went to the store. (c) ...

Does a missing comma in a sentence change the meaning of the sentence? Look at this sentence: The panda eats shoots and leaves. Now insert commas after the words ‘eats’ and ‘shoots’ and the meaning of ...

Technically, both the comma and the word 'and' are what they call 'conjunctions' (linking devices) and so probably shouldn't be put together. I wouldn't lose sleep over it, mind. Shaun Tooze, ...

Feelings about the semicolon run strong. Its proper use is a hallmark of literacy. Traditionally, the semicolon has three uses: it can replace a comma in a series that includes interior commas, such ...

Y'all, get ready to have your world turned upside down by some titillating grammar news: Someone has introduced a new punctuation mark. While it may not seem like a big deal to you, for an English ...