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"comma"

By Richard Nordquist, About.com

Definition:

A punctuation mark ( , ) used to indicate a separation of ideas or of elements within a sentence. See Guidelines for Using Commas Effectively.

Etymology:

From the Greek, "a piece cut off"

Examples and Observations:

  • "Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."
    (Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince)

  • "Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody."
    (Mark Twain)

  • "Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy, wealthy, and dead."
    (James Thurber)

  • "Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet."
    (Mae West)

  • "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money."
    (Senator Everett Dirksen)

  • "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."
    (Steven Wright)

  • "I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is--my point is, there’s a strong will for democracy."
    (George W. Bush)

Pronunciation: KOM-ahAudio Link

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