Thank god for Grammarly. Regardless of how many times I read and reread my writing before pressing ‘Enter’ to post it, Grammarly finds a handful of comma errors.
I like to think of commas as little breaks for the reader to catch his/her breath – so to speak. In Grammarly’s own blog, I quote “a comma is a punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a sentence”. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma/
If you want to read up on all the dos & don’ts of using a comma, even discussing the differences between British and American English, then it’s well-worth it. Go for it!!
Still reading?! Want the short version?! Here goes.
As previously mentioned, to create breaks in a sentence
As a natural break for the reader,
E.G. “The software has crashed several times, leading to massive problems.”
As a parenthesis (the sentence can stand without the part between commas)
E.G. “The main problem, which we all agreed, was how to cut costs.”
2. After introductory words
E.G. “As requested, I am attaching the quotation.
3.To separate items in a list:
“We will identify, analyse, address and solve the problem”.
Hope that helped!
If you also want/have to make sure your writing looks great, Grammarly gives you the peace of mind you need – no misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes ever again!
Regardless of (von etw unabhängig), to catch one’s breath (Atem holen), to quote (zitieren), punctuation mark (Satzzeichen), to read up on sth (etw gründlich studieren), the dos & don’ts (was man tun und nicht tun sollte), “it’s well-worth it” (Es lohnt sich), parenthesis (Zwischensatz), as requested (wie gewünscht), quotation (Angebot/Kostenvoranschlag), peace of mind (Seelenfrieden), punctuation (Zeichensetzung).