Comma story - Terisa Folaron
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2013
- View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/comma-story...
It isn't easy holding complex sentences together (just ask a conjunction or a subordinate), but the clever little comma can help lighten the load. But how to tell when help is really needed? Terisa Folaron offers some tricks of the comma trade.
Lesson by Terisa Folaron, animation by Brett Underhill.
"Let's eat Grandma!"
"Let's eat, Grandma!"
Comma's save lives.
Let's eat Mother
Let's eat, Mother
*"Commas save lives."
That comma (the apostrophe) is defective, euthanize it.
However, you're use of apostrophes doesn't save any lives.
+jvx358 *your
A comma marks a slight break between different parts of a sentence. Used properly, commas make the meaning of sentences clear by grouping and separating words, phrases, and clauses. Many people are uncertain about the use of commas, though, and often sprinkle them throughout their writing without knowing the basic rules.
Here are the main cases when you need to use a comma:
in lists
in direct speech
to separate clauses
to mark off certain parts of a sentence
with 'however'
Using commas in lists
You need to put a comma between the different items in a list, as in the following sentences:
Saturday morning started with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and French toast.
The school has a vegetable garden in which the children grow cabbages, onions, potatoes, and carrots.
The final comma in these lists (before the word ‘and’) is known as the ‘serial comma’. Not all writers or publishers use it, but it is used by Oxford Dictionaries - some people refer to it as ‘the Oxford comma’. Using it can make your meaning clearer. Take a look at this sentence:
My favourite sandwiches are chicken, bacon and ham and cheese.
It isn’t entirely clear from this sentence whether the writer is listing three or four of their favourite sandwich fillings: is ‘ham’ one of their favourites and ‘cheese’ another, or is it ‘ham and cheese’ that they like? Adding an Oxford comma makes the meaning clear:
My favourite sandwiches are chicken, bacon, and ham and cheese.
Using commas in direct speech
When a writer quotes a speaker’s words exactly as they were spoken, this is known as direct speech. If the piece of direct speech comes after the information about who is speaking, you need to use a comma to introduce the direct speech. The comma comes before the first quotation mark. Note that the final quotation mark follows the full stop at the end of the direct speech:
Steve replied, ‘No problem.’
You also need to use a comma at the end of a piece of direct speech, if the speech comes before the information about who is speaking. In this case, the comma goes inside the quotation mark:
‘I don’t agree,’ I replied.
‘Here we are,' they said.
There are two exceptions to this rule. If a piece of direct speech takes the form of a question or an exclamation, you should end it with a question mark or an exclamation mark, rather than a comma:
‘Stop him!’ she shouted.
‘Did you see that?’ he asked.
Direct speech is often broken up by the information about who is speaking. In these cases, you need a comma to end the first piece of speech (inside the quotation mark) and another comma before the second piece (before the quotation mark):
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘and I always keep my promises.’
‘Thinking back,’ she added, ‘I didn’t expect to win.’
See more about Punctuation in direct speech.
Using commas to separate clauses
Commas are used to separate clauses in a complex sentence (i.e. a sentence which is made up of a main clause and one or more subordinate clauses).
The following examples show the use of commas in two complex sentences:
Having had lunch,
we went back to work.
[subordinate clause]
[main clause]
I first saw her in Paris,
where I lived in the early nineties.
[main clause]
[subordinate clause]
If the commas were removed, these sentences wouldn’t be as clear but the meaning would still be the same. There are different types of subordinate clause, though, and in some types the use of commas can be very important.
A subordinate clause beginning with ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘that’, ‘whom’, or ‘where’ is known as a relative clause. Take a look at this example:
Passengers
who have young children
may board the aircraft first.
[relative clause]
This sentence contains what’s known as a ‘restrictive relative clause’. Basically, a restrictive relative clause contains information that’s essential to the meaning of the sentence as a whole. If you left it out, the sentence wouldn’t make much sense. If we removed the relative clause from the example above, then the whole point of that sentence would be lost and we’d be left with the rather puzzling statement:
Passengers may board the aircraft first.
You should not put commas round a restrictive relative clause.
The other type of subordinate clause beginning with ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘whom’, etc. is known as a ‘non-restrictive relative clause’. A non-restrictive relative clause contains information that is not essential to the overall meaning of a sentence. Take a look at the following example:
Mary,
who has two young children,
has a part-time job in the library.
[relative clause]
If you remove this clause, the meaning of the sentence isn’t affected and it still makes perfect sense. All that’s happened is that we’ve lost a bit of extra information about Mary:
Mary has a part-time job in the library.
You need to put a comma both before and after a non-restrictive relative clause.
Using commas to mark off parts of a sentence
Commas are used to separate a part of a sentence that is an optional ‘aside’ and not part of the main statement.
Gunpowder is not, of course, a chemical compound.
His latest film, Calypso Dreams, opens next month.
In these sentences, the role of the commas is similar to their function in non-restrictive relative clauses: they mark off information that isn’t essential to the overall meaning. Using commas in this way can really help to clarify the meaning of a sentence. Take a look at this example:
Cynthia’s daughter, Sarah, is a midwife.
The writer’s use of commas tells us that Cynthia has only one daughter. If you removed Sarah’s name from the sentence, there would still be no doubt as to who was the midwife:
Cynthia’s daughter is a midwife.
If you rewrite the original sentence without commas its meaning changes:
Cynthia’s daughter Sarah is a midwife.
The lack of commas tells us that the name ‘Sarah’ is crucial to the understanding of the sentence. It shows that Cynthia has more than one daughter, and so the name of the one who is a midwife needs to be specified for the meaning to be clear.
If you aren’t sure whether you’ve used a pair of commas correctly, try replacing them with brackets or removing the information enclosed by the commas altogether, and then see if the sentence is still understandable, or if it still conveys the meaning you intended.
Using a comma with 'however'
You should use a comma after 'however' when however means 'by contrast' or 'on the other hand':
However, a good deal of discretion is left in the hands of area managers.
Don't use a comma after however when it means 'in whatever way':
However you look at it, existing investors are likely to lose out.
You put way too much work into this to only get 4 likes.
@@justicecountryman4060 I second that.
You actually wrote an essay like not even kidding bro I could give this to my professor and he would give me a passing grade
Thank you
Could you teach about semi-colons, please?
Also is this the correct way of using a comma?
Some commas save lives
"Let's eat, grandma!"
Others destroy lives
"A panda eats, shoots, and leaves."
Want - Diverse Content this deserves more likes
:D
**pumped up kicks playing in the background**
Want - Diverse Content I just imagine a panda eating then pulling out a gun and shooting, then going back to calmly eating leaves
Want - Diverse Content,,,,
Bartheleme seems like a very interesting person
Don Corleone lol
yeah, so true dat. hehe
ASCII Skull bartheleme barcelona
Probably a trumpster
True
That was a really creative way to put it.
I know, right! Never seen anything quite like this before! If only we were taught this way in school too!
Exhalant ikr
Ishita Gupta I
Exhalant I
boomers
As a non native English speaker, please make more videos like this!
Catalistic people native of the USA news it more. I’m sure you’re better st it because you’re just now learning and respect the rules and all.
@Nicholas Natale yeah he wants more help
Seriously? This is only for 2IQ people
As a native English speaker I need more of this.
You know it's kind of ironic that although the subordinate conjunction's character is is mighty and powerful, the word subordinate's actual definition means to be under someone like a leader or be a rank below...
Toaster Waffle Interesting! But who do you think the leader is then?
gcyeow1963 the leader is Emperor Writer, who commands all the words, with Grammar as law and ideas as economy... which explains quite neatly why grammar errors exist--because they can.
I wish I was as talented as Bartheleme, with his UChicago acceptance and Stanford waitlist.
Me too.
Maybe my brain works differently than most, but I feel like this is a really convoluted way to explain this topic.
A male name.
Same
I'm curious if you can suggest a video that was more helpful in explaining commas in a less convoluted manner.
Absolutely, I got no answers from there, lol
"Agreed. Even though I understood some points, the clarity felt split between too many terms."
Don't even know if that's correct.
Finally after years and years of getting confused between a comma and a dot, i finally learned it today! Thank you, very much!
THAT WAS AMAZING!!!! If teachers explained everything like we're 5 year olds and weren't pretentious, students perfomance would skyrocket. Feynman would be proud of this video.
This video needs re-naming: "How to confuse the shit out of someone trying to learn the correct use of a comma."
It makes sense to me, but I can see why you have trouble with it.
Why are u even here
I found this intressting. Especially because English is not my first languege
Pppl.,,,,p
This was made for english speakers or the ones who mastered it as a second language
Are you kidding me? This was the most convoluted way to explain the use of a comma - or the use of anything ever produced. TED is rolling over in his ED. Face smack.
Thanks TED-Ed. I needed this for my grammar class.
Hey,you should have used a comma in your sentence ,because commas are in the story although,your sentence was great anyway ; )
@@Tombee2 Shouldn't it be:
"(...) story, although your (...)"?
@@mr_maydo yeah I had no grammar skills back then. I'm not that good now 😅, but I've gotten better.
@@Tombee2 Oh, wow.
I didn't notice how old that comment is.
I put off watching this video some years ago when I thought I didn't need videos about grammar. the video was all blah blah blah then. Now I'm doing some writing and it has occurred to me that I need to know precisely when and when not to use commas. What a memorable way to teach a concept. Thanks
Why does Comma have a Lenny face.
+MickyVideo I was about to say
It just happens to be a really simple straight-line face config.
Ah, and the nose isn't lenny
Because commas can have Lenny faces
hu
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Waldo fghhjgcgzcvj
I swear, this is the best lesson of using commas I've ever found. Thanks a lot, TED-ed!
F.A.N.B.O.Y.S
For And Nor But Or Yet So
*F.A.N.B.O.Y.S.
*or*
*f.a.n.b.o.y.s.
Strictly speaking, acronyms require all letters to have a dot directly proceed them as each letter is an abbreviation, also, they oft needn't be capitalised (apart from the first letter if the acronym begins a sentence).
Ciaran Little
Well it depends on whether you are using the United States of America version or United Kingdom version
Ciaran Little it's not really an acronym rather a trick to remember
🖕
WoW! You just explained the use of comma in less than 5 minutes while my teacher had been teaching that for a long time and no one yet understands.
I'm a 19-year-old girl who still struggles with the English language. It is not my first language, so it's understandable. With this video and its amazing visuals, I'm understanding it faster. Thank you!
May someone who is much older, and whose first language is English, be so bold as to correct your comment?! "... I'm understanding it faster." You should have used "more quickly" - the comparative form of the adverb "quickly". Adverbs modify verbs (there's a clue in the name!!). Adjectives, such as you have used, qualify nouns - that are often the subject or the object in a sentence. Once again, there's a wee clue in the name!
Kind regards.
What a beautifully narrated story!
this lesson was the cutest video I have seen since elementary school. simple and easy to follow. great job educators!
first comma was hard to me but now i feel like i could do anything so thank you so much
I already know and understand how to use commas, however I enjoyed listening to the narrator describe the use of commas in such a fun manner. Great video!!!!
What an amazing way of teaching this subject. Thank you.
4:18 those are some diverse majors, Barthleme.
Very creative video in teaching the use of commas.
Not only does this channel teach me things I didn't know of, but this channel also teaches me grammar. Awesome!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS literally struggled with this for years, and you helped so much with this
*_"And his name is... JOHN CENA!!!"_*
**Does a double back flip while carrying fifteen sentances**
**Lands it**
**Randomly explodes**
Also his name is..... Kayne West!
bep nop Best YT comment ever
Louis Cypher *WHERE IS THE COMMA!*
AND HIS NAME IS... RANDY ORTON
I never had much problem learning the rules, but I like this approach because a story is memorable, while a mere rule may be forgotten or misremembered.
I always come across the loveliest of videos on this channel.Extremely grateful for the creators!
It actually helped quite a bit. Thank you very much!
I still don’t understand commas for 6 years.
Fr
Kyle left with his girlfriend,mom
Kyle left with his girlfriend mom.
Get it now?
@com1k he's is a contraction of he is so you would say his instead you also wouldn't use a comma for a list of 2 so a better example would be
kyle left with his girlfriend's mom, dad, and brother
kyle left with his girlfriends, mom, dad, and brother
if it was just 2 you could say girlfriend's mom and dad no commas needed
@@com1kthe sentences normally would just be
kyle left with his girlfriend's mom
kyle left with his girlfriend and her mom
Same
man, that comma was sexy
prevert
pervert* and no..
Has the Internet gone so crazy that they call a punctuation mark sexy?
What, no >_
...it's the hair, isn't it?
even after many years, this is sooooooo beautifully done. I hope I used the comma properly
Brilliantly composed.
What I have concluded from this video is that I should start placing commas after a complete thought. 😮
Wow! The comma looks very pretty and kind! I love how you designed the characters!
This is so cool for me because my teacher showed this video to us in the 6th grade, I'm in my final year of high school now. Crazy how it's in my recommended and time sure does fly.
And the floor is a schoolbook. How, convenient?
wait... I wasn't talking to someone named Convenient.
This is the cutest video I've ever seen... and I spend most my time watching cute animal videos
Either gay or swimming in Oxytocin
Furry
This was very well done. I love the personification, it made it very entertaining and fun.
Listen non-native English learners, TED is an excellent tool for learning and should be taken lightly. Although, it may seem difficult at times, education is a lifestyle not a competition of knowledge. Be courteous and stoic in your journey in life. Love the video and especially the fanboys acronym, I will use this in my lesson plan tomorrow in class. :)
Sorry if I insult
But I think you meant to use 'shouldn't' instead of 'should'
"Lets eat grandpa!"
"Lets eat, grandpa!"
Commas save lives.
Nuce copy paste skillz :/
“Let’s eat u”
“Let’s still eat u”
Thales pro999..EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
very inspired
4:32: Conjunctions never need the help of commas. Commas are only used AFTER conjunctions in lengthy sentences to surround a portion of the sentence that, when removed, still makes sense. For instance, "Two of Bartheleme's many hobbies include dancing and, despite his fear of heights, skydiving." When the portion surrounded by the commas is removed, the sentence still makes sense: "Two of Bartheleme's many hobbies include dancing and skydiving." The sentence at 4:04, "Bartheleme was accepted into the University of Chicago, and he is on the waitlist for Stanford University" is sufficient without the comma. I find it strange why one would randomly and awkwardly place a comma where it is not needed. Commas are only placed before the conjunction "and" when listing multiple items in a list. For example, "Bartheleme needs to buy eggs, milk, cheese, bread, and yogurt."
Sara Favero Actually, as long as a sentence has two complete thoughts that are different from each other, and is connectedby conjunction, putting a comma before the conjunction would make sense and that is part of english rules (as taught to me by my english teacher). The second sentence you mentioned is actually correct with the comma before the conjunction.
I hope this has helped your understanding, and if not, then please do not post anything mean. Just say that you do not like the advice. Thank you.
To be honest, this is the best lesson for using commas that really helped me out. Thanks!
Now explain to us why so many people are opposed to the Oxford comma.
ackthbbft Because it's the better way.
It's not incorrect, Ted Ed even has at least one video explaining its use
Skarpo he understands that but in writing it's unnecessary most of the times
@@Skarpo89 it’s
Is WWE CHAMPION JOHN CENA a subordinate?
No
🤣 🤣 🤣
Lol
1:45 among us
Among us
I love how this video explains it, super captivating!
This helped me more than my actual ELA teacher. He just told us that theses were subordinates and that however uses a semicolon.
This was released 3 days before my birthday!
Ok but who is Bartheleme
I'm glad there are channels like this one on CZcams to make stuff like this COMMA-n knowledge.
I love these grammar videos. Keep it up, TED-Ed!
Commas are extremely important and can save lives. For example,
“Let’s eat grandma.”
can become
“Let’s eat commas.”
You are as clever and helpful as comma🥰
Fantastic animation! You're helping this struggling mom out a whole lot!
best educational cartoon channel to exist
3:19 "Bartheleme loves to sing he never sings in _fron_ of others"
Me in year 7 and still doesn’t know when to use commas
Ikr
💀 same
I know why,you didn't even watch the full video,Ormy!
Bro, same lol
This helped me a lot, thank you so much! Hope this helped everyone else too!
One of the best lessons regarding "commas"
I love the idea of this video, but why is "however," an adverbial conjunction, lumped in with subordinating conjunctions like "although" and "unless"? It should operate differently in a sentence.
They were trying to explain it however they could
@@littlefishbigmountain Thanks! :)
Emily
lol, no problem :-)
"However" functions differently than even though and other subordinate conjunctions.
However you slice it, it depends on context. However, I’m not saying you’re wrong.
@@littlefishbigmountain Thank you for the elucid example!
Just why i love your grammar videos so hardly??? thank you much so Ted!!!!!
This was an AMAZING video. Absolutely loved it.
Is it driving anyone else crazy that she keeps saying "subordinaNt"?
David Galvin Sorry. I wanted to edit one of the comments, and edited the wrong one by mistake.
Bert Visscher Ummmmm... Doesn't the video teach us that the word "Although" is a subordinate in which, if it starts the sentence, it must carry the "comma"after it?
Forex Trader Not quite, but then this subordinate doesn't start the sentence. It's close though.
So glad I'm not the only one. That drives me up the wall!
3:19
Even though Bartheleme loves to sing he never sings in *fron* of others.
They never taught me this in school. Thank you TedEd for providing free education for those of us who were not taught it in school.
Wow! This was extremely, impressively put together in a memorable and informative way!
When you said: This was extremely, Why was? Couldn’t it be IS.
My English teacher would spin in his grave! We were taught never to place a comma before 'and'.
+Alwyn Maynard
That is so true, i was also taught NEVER to use a comma before "and"
When writing stories (mind you, not essays) you have to break the rules sometimes.
+XxRosieGrlx It's shouldn't be difficult to write basic English, if you're a native speaker.
+Alwyn Maynard I am a native speaker, it's just confusing with all the stupid rules. xD
Be grateful that they don't do: "jello/jelly, pie and, cake." *That* would drive me nuts.
Putting a comma before an 'and' is called an Oxford comma.
Or you just do it like German and put commas everywhere.
"She said that she didn't know what he meant"
"Sie sagte, dass sie nicht wusste, was er meinte"
Long sentences become so much more easier to understand if you separate any individual sentence from the others. I like to use super long sentences with a lot of sub-sentences (how ever they are called in english) and thousands of commas.
Thank you! Im not an english speaker,and I need to study this again because I forgot this lesson in elementary.
Thanks i really struggle with where to use comas, and this helped me a lot
I want to create a fanfiction about the subordinates and the commas-
I was too busy looking at the pictures I don’t think I learned anything 😆
Thank you for showing this! I had a test on grammar, and this this helped a lot.
This this????
0:29 you gave comma a lenny face
I feel like this is more aimed towards young children
Ξ Ňøcŧıvαgυƨ Ξ Typically you would be correct. However, we have a growing number of native English speakers that do not how to properly write a complete sentence.
Ξ Ňøcŧıvαgυƨ Ξ I’m a 17 yr old girl who is still trying to figure out the comma 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭
@@danaalnajami1378 I feel you! 😂😭
"Your kill me mom!"
"Your killing me, mom!"
Comas mihht be super heros!?
"Your killing me mom!"
"Your killing me, mom!"
Comas might be superheroes !?
Princess Art “Your killing me mom!”
“You’re killing me,Mom!”
Commas might be superheroes!
You're*
Latte-Chan thanks
You’re*
This channel is the best.
An entire class period was spent trying to teach us about commas, and here we are given a five minute video that explains it all.
Lol, The comma's hair is So Cool 😍
So there is no coma before "or" or...?
+redcoresuperstar There is if connecting two complete sentences. For example: "Do you want to go to the movies, or do you want to play baseball?" Compare this to: "Do you want to go to the movies or play baseball?" This is what I understood from the video at least :P
The last example is not actually a rare occasion at all: OR is lifting "molecular biology" and "interpretive dance," but not anything before that. They are small weights, so a conjunction can lift them.
English is a very convoluted language.
As a speaker/student of nearly any language I can encounter I see that non-English speakers find it the most difficult language to learn. Complex, superfluous and ever changing in nomenclature.
As a English-as-a-first language speaker I hit the wall with Bulgarian.
Bien pour vous.
Still_learning I never give up and thank you. I learned something new today.
French is a beautiful language.
Did,I,do,it,right?
No better try next time,but don't forget your punctuation
tombee tombe Thanks for the advice.
Oh, by the way you forgot a period.
that's, because i wanted you to find it.
tombee tombe
capitals too
You see now your learning.
@1:33, this person lists "however" as a subordinate conjunction.
WOW! What an absurd mistake.
"However" is a conjunctive adverb, not a subordinate conjunction. Following this person's advice, a person will be creating comma splices.
That was really interesting with how Bartheleme was expressed to be to us, similar to us in fact in some things and others, not. The creative of remembering the conjunctions 'FANBOYS' is very much appreciated.
Thank you very much, I really needed this, because I feel embarrassed everytime i make a statement, I didn't remember how it works before LOL.
Nope. There are too many exceptions to these rules. I'll point out one exception, perhaps the most significant one. "However" is better classified as a conjunction, and that's if you're going to say it's either a conjunction or a subordinate, which is problematic in itself. It would be better to work from these examples of common conjunctions and subordinates to a more solid understanding of the two concepts themselves, then to work from there back to the words again to show that the issue is more about grammatical function than the words themselves. That is, given enough supporting structure, a word like "however" (or, dare I say, any word) could be a conjunction or a subordinate (or any other type of word), depending on the whole sentence. I appreciate using human cognitive shortcuts (i.e. anthropomorphization and common-sense physics) to construct rules of thumb; it's a clever pedagogical move, however (or but) there are too many exceptions to these rules of thumb to make them very handy.
G
/
However is a conjunctive adverb and follows different rules than subordinating conjunctions and coordinating conjunctions.
Amanda Garner Yes! I have to correct this all the time in students' writing. I teach that however is used after a semi-colon or as a transitional word at the beginning of a sentence, in both cases followed by a comma. It is NOT a subordinating conjunctions; using it as one is a great way to create a run-on.
i appreciate the objective but this actually makes it sound more complicated than it is
Very educational videos
Thank you to the amazing Ted ed staff.
I love this channel one day Im gonna look back and be like remember when there was ted ed vsauce minutephysics, numberphile, etc and they were all awesome
its been 8 years, are you alive
@@MappingRobloxAnimations .. somehow, and so are the channels to
Why make the subject unnecessarily complicated? A comma is a moment to breathe, in my humble estimation. Boy, that video was stress inducing! Or was it just 'her' accent...
This is so old school. Say NO to commas before conjunctions in the 21st century!
excellent illustration. even though grammar is pretty hard , i'm still improving every day my grammar and English.
Beautiful way to explain a lesson ... Wonderful