Revising and Editing

Reconsidering your ideas, examining your paragraphs, checking your style and grammar.

Commas after an Introductory Elements

Commas are frequently used to separate introductory material in a sentence from the primary independent clause.

Commas and Introductory Phrases

A phrase is a group of words that functions as a single part of speech and that doesn’t contain both a subject and a verb. An introductory phrase is a short group of words that appears before the main part of the sentence.

Example:

	Determined to study for his test John took the rest of the day off in order to focus on his chemistry.
	Determined to study for his test, John took the rest of the day off in order to focus on his chemistry.

The last sentence is correct because the comma separates the introductory element from the rest of the sentence and makes the meaning clearer.

Tip

Sometimes if the phrase is really short you may not need a comma, but if you put it in you can’t go wrong.

Commas and Introductory Subordinate Clauses

An introductory subordinate clause is also a group of words that appears before the main part of the sentence. A subordinate clause begins with a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun and has both a subject and verb, but it is not a complete thought and cannot stand alone. When subordinate clauses start a sentence, they need a comma before the independent clause.

Example:

	Although we could take the elevator we prefer to use the stairs.
	Although, we could take the elevator we prefer to use the stairs.
	Although we could take the elevator, we prefer to use the stairs.

The last sentence is correct because the comma separates the introductory subordinate clause from the rest of the sentence.

Subordinating Conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause and explains that clauses relationship to the rest of the sentence.

These words are subordinating conjunctions:

after	how	than
although	if	that
as	inasmuch	though
as if	in order that	unless
as long as	lest	until
as much as	now that	when
as soon as	once	whenever
as though	provided (that)	where
because	rather than	wherever
before	since	whether
even if	so that	while
even though

Source

Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.