Magic Comma Rules


   I.      Put a comma before a change of subject (podmět)


E.g.     Bob was grumpy, and it made life miserable for everyone.

Bob ate fish, and his doggy ate dog food.


II.      NEVER put a comma before ‘that’, ‘if’, ‘what’, or ‘when’ even if there is a change of
subject


E.g.    I think, that English punctuation is stupid. ✕
I do not know, if Bob is home. ✕
I got home when Bob was having a fit. ✓

III.      Use a comma before BUT, SINCE and AS when they are conjunctions (spojky).


E.g.     I was tired, but I continued working nonetheless.

Bob ate all the bananas but one.

I was tired, since I had been studying English all day.

I have been here since noon.


IV.      Put commas around non-defining clauses and participle clauses (přechodníky), and after the
hypothesis of a conditional sentence.


E.g.     Bob, who is my best friend, is coming to visit me.

Bob’s sisters, seeing that he was sick, decided to give him some aspirin.

If I could, I would switch to a logical language like German.


(Defining Clause: The man that I met at the supermarket is coming to visit me.)


 V.      Put commas around (or after) editorial and organizational comments, time and place
phrases.


E.g.     Unfortunately, Bob did not enjoy the trip.

The trip, in my opinion, was a waste of time.

As far as I know, it will not snow today.

In the early part of 2009, I was working for a publisher.

In places where it snows, people wear funny hats.


VI.      Lists


A, B, C(,) and D

Why use the Oxford Comma?

Highlights of his global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a
dildo collector.

(the Times of London writing about Peter Ustinov)