Brief Overview of Punctuation When speaking, we can pause or
change the tone of our voices to indicate emphasis. When
writing, we must use punctuation to indicate these places of
emphasis. This resource should help to clarify when and how to
use various marks of punctuation. Contributors:Morgan Sousa,
Dana Lynn Driscoll Last Edited: 2013-04-18 03:35:21 When
speaking, we can pause or change the tone of our voices to
indicate emphasis. When writing, we use punctuation to indicate
these places of emphases. This handout should help to clarify
when and how to use various marks of punctuation. Use a comma to
join 2 independent clauses by a comma and a coordinating
conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so). Use a comma after an
introductory phrase, prepositional phrase, or dependent clause.
Use a comma to separate elements in a series. Although there is
no set rule that requires a comma before the last item in a
series, it seems to be a general academic convention to include
it. The examples below demonstrate this tr