Translingual

Punctuation mark

, ‎(English name comma)

1. Separates items in a list.

   She sells dogs, cats, and birds.

2. Separates clauses in a sentence.
   • 2000, Lya Wyler (translator), J. K. Rowling (English author), Harry Potter e a Câmara Secreta (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Rocco, page 217:

     Quando tiver uma dúvida, vá à biblioteca.

     When you are in doubt, go to the library.

3. Separates coordinate adjectives.

   The dull, incessant droning.

4. Sets off quoted material that is the grammatical object of an active verb of speaking or writing.

   Mr. Kershner says, "You should know how to use a comma."

5. Separates the year in a date.

   Feb. 14, 1987, was the target date.

6. Separates a region from a geographic place within.

   Austin, Texas

7. Separates the surname from given name when the traditional order is the reverse.

   Smith, John

8. Separates title from a name.

   John Smith, PhD

9. Marks elision.

   The cat was white; the dog, brown. (Here the comma replaces was.)

10. Marks a noun or pronoun used independently when speaking to some person, place or thing.

    I hope, John, that you will read this.

11. Separates steps to do something in software.
    • 1995, Paul W. Ross, The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists, CRC Press, ISBN 9780849325304, page 719:

      Choose View, Screen Show, Edit Effect to provide transition effects such as Fade and Blinds.

Usage notes

• (Separates items in a list) The last comma before a conjunction in a list is called a serial comma. Usage of the serial comma depends on the house style one uses, so the phrase can also be written without the comma: "She sells dogs, cats and birds." See Serial comma on Wikipedia for more details.

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:,.

Symbol

,

1. The thousands separator used in some countries.

   I have 1,258 flags.

2. The decimal separator used in some countries.

   Le debo €7,14. - I owe you €7.14

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:,.

Derived terms

• ﹐ (small form variant)

Alternative forms

• in Arabic: ،
• in Armenian: ՝ ‎(,)
• in Chinese: ，
• in Japanese: 、

Synonyms

• (Decimal separator): . (in other countries)
• (Thousands separator): . (in other countries)

See also

Punctuation