This page presents a few basic punctuation and grammar issues that many communicators deal with.  There are also many useful websites with fuller information about punctuation and grammar:

• Excelsior College’s Online Writing Lab
• Empire State College’s Writing Resources
• Purdue University’s Writing Lab

Punctuation

Commas

Use commas for five main purposes:

1. to separate phrases in a sentence

• Given that he now understood his boss better, he decided to wait for a more appropriate time to request a raise.
• Mary, who was the nurse in charge, explained protocol to the newly-hired nurses.
• My colleagues in construction, all in good physical shape because of their jobs, also work out on the weekends, which contributes to their fitness.

2. to separate items in a list

• We were asked to bring non-perishable items, such as canned vegetables, pasta, canned tuna, dish detergent, paper towels, and napkins as part of our organization’s contribution to the community food bank.
• Joe, Kendra, Bill, and Harriet constitute the IT department’s communication team.

3. to separate parts of an address, date, or name with a title

• The office in Baltimore, Maryland, is moving to College Park, Maryland.
• Fresh Fish Foundries, initially established on June 2, 2010, just received a prestigious environmental award.
• Jane Bates, Ph.D., was hired to train select staff on the new communications system.

Note that in each case, you also need a comma after the last part of the address, date, or name/title if more of the sentence follows.

4. to link two complete sentences, along with an appropriate linking word

• Carol Jacobson moved from assistant dean to associate dean, and Norman Styles moved from director to assistant dean to fill Carol’s former position.
• We usually enjoy our organization’s summer picnic, but we don’t go when the weather is too hot or rainy.

5. to separate quotations from the rest of the sentence

• Harold Morgan, director of The Center for Independent Living, stated, “It’s our mission to find educational and employment opportunities for all of our clients, to enable them to move into self-sustaining careers.” (Note that if you used “stated that…” to lead into the quotation, then you do not need the comma – use one or the other.)
• During new employee training, Kendrick said, “The way to advance in this organization is to do the jobs that no one else wants to do, and to do them well.” (Note that if the quotation ends the sentence, the period goes inside the quotation mark.)

For fuller information about comma use, you may want to link to:

• Purdue University’s page on Extended Rules for Using Commas
• Illinois Valley Community College’s page on Integrating Quotations into Sentences

Semi-colons

Use semi-colons in two instances only:

1. to separate items in a list when the items themselves have commas

• The company has branch offices in Boise, Idaho; Cayoga, New York; Quincy, Massachusetts; and Columbia, Maryland.

2. to link two complete sentences together instead of using a comma + a linking word

• The auditors are coming in one week; we have to have all of our books in order and ready for their review.

Colons

Use colons in two instances only:

1. to introduce a list after an independent clause/complete sentence – this is the most common use

• The regulations about using the office refrigerator are as follows: make sure all items are appropriately covered or in bags, put your name on anything you put in the refrigerator, remove personal items – except condiments – on Fridays by 3:00 p.m. or they will be thrown away, indicate on condiments your name and the date you first placed the item in the refrigerator.

2. to create emphasis

• Refrigerator regulations are essential: an office refrigerator can get out of hand with old, rotting food, which quickly turns into an actual health hazard.

Grammar

Run-On Sentences

A sentence is a unit of subject or actor, verb or action, and words to complete the thought.  A run-on sentence error occurs when you link two complete sentences without adequate punctuation.  Adequate punctuation can be one of three things:

1. a comma + a linking word (and, but, or any linking word that appropriately shows the relationship of ideas)
2. a semi-colon
3. a period and start a new sentence, so that the sentences are separate and not linked

Run-On Sentence Error

In discussions, Deborah and Michael heatedly point out issues and offer reasons why things will not work, the director often assigns other people the role of devil’s advocate at our planning meetings to ensure a more reasoned approach to debating pros and cons. (Note that a comma itself cannot correctly link two complete sentences.)

Correcting the Run-On Sentence

1. comma + linking word: …reasons why things will not work, so the director often assigns…
2. semi-colon: …reasons why things will not work; the director often assigns…
3. period and start a new sentence: …reasons why things will not work. The director often assigns…

Sentence Fragments

A sentence fragment is the opposite of a run-on; it looks like a sentence, but lacks either a subject or actor, a verb or action, or words to complete the thought.  To fix a sentence fragment, simply add the element that it lacks. Note that sometimes eliminating a word that interferes with the sentence’s subject will then allow another word to function as the subject. Note as well that words to complete the thought are often in an adjoining sentence.

Sentence Fragment Errors [sentence fragments are in brackets]

• Karen appeared at the committee meeting last week. [And convincingly presented her ideas about the new product.]
• The committee considered her ideas for a new marketing strategy quite powerful. [The best ideas that they had heard in years.]
• [Because Karen’s ideas were so powerful.]  The committee voted to implement them immediately. And they put Karen in charge of the implementation.

Correcting the Sentence Fragments

1. add what the fragment lacks

• Karen appeared at the committee meeting last week.  She convincingly presented her ideas about the new product. (added a subject to the fragment)
• The committee considered her ideas for a new marketing strategy quite powerful.  They were the best ideas that they had heard in years. (added a subject and verb)
• Karen’s ideas were so powerful.  The committee voted to implement them immediately.  And they put Karen in charge of the implementation. (In this case, because indicates that there’s more of the sentence to follow.  Eliminating because makes Karen the subject.)

2. link adjoining sentences

• Karen appeared at the committee meeting last week and convincingly presented her ideas about the new product.
• The committee considered her ideas for a new marketing strategy quite powerful, the best ideas that they had heard in years.
• Because Karen’s ideas were so powerful, the committee voted to implement them immediately, and they put Karen in charge of the implementation. (Note that although And they put Karen in charge of the implementation was a grammatically-correct sentence and not a fragment that needed to be fixed, in this particular case the sentences flow better stylistically if they are all linked.)

Parallelism

Parallelism means that similar items in a sentence need to be in the same grammatical format. The sample sentence below is not parallel, because similar items in the list are not in the same format (in this case, -ing phrases).

Not Parallel

Jeremy was adept at serving customers, ordering supplies, and he always left good records of these types of interactions.

Parallel

Jeremy was adept at serving customers, ordering supplies, and keeping good records of these types of interactions.

View the following video for a good discussion of parallelism.