This is the first column in Comma Connects, an occasional series detailing the building of Comma, the nonprofit set to assume ownership of The Spokesman-Review in 2026, through the personal stories of ...

Contrary to popular belief, commas don't just signify pauses in a sentence. In fact, precise rules govern when to use this punctuation mark. When followed, they lay the groundwork for clear written ...

For most people, a stray comma isn’t the end of the world. But in some cases, the exact placement of a punctuation mark can cost huge sums of money. We’re bidding farewell to 2018 with some of BBC ...

As anyone who’s chuckled at this well-worn punctuation joke can attest, commas matter. A comma can even make the difference between a friendly invitation to break bread and cannibalism. But that doesn ...

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Example: I went to the beach, and I got a sunburn. The two independent clauses in this sentence are “I went to the beach” and “I got a sunburn.” The coordinating conjunction is “and.” Other ...

In these days of email, tweets, and text messages, the application of proper punctuation is sometimes viewed as a dying art. Yet as archaic as that practice may sometimes seem, it remains true that in ...

If you have ever doubted the importance of the humble Oxford comma, let this supremely persnickety Maine labor dispute set you straight. A group of dairy drivers argued that they deserved overtime pay ...