When to use commas with book titles and names

There are more usages of a comma, for example, how adding or removing comma before and after a name changes the meaning of the sentence. Do you place a comma before a poems title in a sentence. Normally there might be a slight pause at the commas when reading the sentence, but a slight pause when reading is not a reason to introduce a comma when the grammar does not require it. When you are using names and words in english that are originally written using different writing system e. Should commas be used around by and an authors name after a title it depends. When you have a list that contains more than two elements, use commas to separate them. Ive recently received a handful of questions asking for clarification about rule governing the use of commas with names and titles. To learn more, including how to use commas with coordinating conjunctions or introductory elements, read on. If you learned in school that you should always put a comma before someones name, im very sorry to inform you that your teacher was mistaken. Normally there might be a slight pause at the commas when reading the sentence, but a slight pause when reading is not a reason to introduce a comma when the grammar does not require it the book title, book, is not parenthetical content in your sentence. Do you still have questions about how to use formal titles in ap style. Notice that the commas separating the titles are inside the quotation marks.

The rule for appositives is that if the information is essential, you dont use commas. Only appositives that are extra information get commas. Homer wrote two books that are set against the backdrop of the. One use for commas is to separate a persons name from his or her title. For proper punctuation, the chicago manual of style and the modern language association direct writers to set the title of a book in italics. The correct way to use commas with names and titles. How do you handle titles ending in other punctuation marks. Looking at examples of sentences with different syntaxes that all include a poems title helps to clarify when. Lets start with the fact that unless a name or title is the last words in a sentence, it can either be used with no commas at all, or with a comma both before and after. Capitalization of titles of works books, articles, plays, stories, poems. While a comma after the title may be correct on rare occasions which dont concern us here, a comma only before a name or title is wrong. Commas should be used after the first term, stopping at the and of the last term, if you dont use oxford commas.

Quotes are for article or chapter titles, in a publication that must be bought as a larger whole. Punctuating with quotation marks get it write online. The question now is whether the name mary is essential or extra. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. Commas with names and titles, simplified the critical reader. But in the example below, no commas are used around the by phrases because the authors names. When correcting a comma splice, that is when joining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, put the comma before and.

Therefore, if there are no commas between names and jr. The first thing to know is that there are generally only two correct options. My friend, jane has a lot more gardening experience than i do. For the trained eyes, there is nothing more annoying than looking at a book which is just one letter away from perfect. In the following example, commas are used to set off the by phrase because the phrase is not integral to the meaning of the sentence. But note that the british customarily reverse this order. Should commas be used around by and an authors name after a title. If you find yourself wondering whether you should put commas around a word or. A guide on book title punctuation publishdrive blog.

We use commas while combining multiple phrases in one sentence or writing about different items in. Do you use a comma after a book title in a sentence. Also do not include both a persons title, such as doctor, and their corresponding degree, such as m. Here are some common ways that titles are punctuated. We explore best practices for punctuation in book titles, title pages. When listing things, you put a comma in between each item. Rules about when to use and not to use commas are legion. Appositives can be essential information or extra information. She was reading a book, a thousand splendid suns, which is quite a classic read. Titles of nobility sometimes serve as alternate names for individuals. Elsewhere on this site we address the question of whether to use italicsunderlining or quotation marks with the titles of works, such as novels, movies, articles, stories, and so forth. The two punctuation marks serve very different purposes, and should not be used interchangeably. Punctuation for a list of people including their credentials february 16, 2012 10. The correct way to use commas with names and titles we use commas while combining multiple phrases in one sentence or writing about different items in a list.

Using commas before names or titles sallyhanans blog. Alternatively, you would need to use commas in the sentence george washington, our first president, served two terms, since our first president is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Punctuating titles can be tricky, especially because different types of titles require different notations and typography. It is incorrect to place only one comma before the name or title. A comma is placed between a surname and a given name or initials if the surname is written first. Also, dont use commas to separate other descriptions from words that indicate number or amount many, more, few, less, and so forth. The conventions for punctuating poem titles can seem daunting, but once you master them, you can use the same rules for the titles of books, articles, websites and other publications. Perhaps we shouldnt give up on paper books just yet. There are different options, so you should first check to see if a certain format is required. Use commas to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items. Using commas before names or titles august 1, 2009. Depending on the type of title, you may need to capitalize the title, underline the title, or use quotation marks around the title to ensure it is punctuated properly.

A persons title describes his or her job or education. The rules for quotation marks around titles vary depending on which style guide you follow. How do i punctuate a list of book titles in a sentence. Use commas to set off all geographical names, items in dates except the month and day, addresses except the street number and name, and titles in names. In a previous ask the mla post, we explained how to incorporate titles ending in question marks or exclamation points into workscitedlist entries. I like a lot your articles, but please look at this part in do you underline book titles. But how do you incorporate such titles into your prose. A writing tip on the use of commas with names and titles. Punctuation is the collection of squiggles, dots, and lines that we use to separate sentences and their parts. Arabic, japanese, cyrillic and other alphabets, you can provide the romanized spelling alongside the original spelling. My estate goes to my husband, son, daughterinlaw, and nephew. The smiths agreed that john would support the family while jane went to graduate school. The basic idea is that if the name in the above example, jessie is the only thing in the world described by the identifier my oldest friend, use a comma before the name and after it as well, unless youve come to the end of the sentence. Punctuation for a list of people including their credentials.

It contains the title, subtitle, the authors name, the publisher and the year of publishing. This rule applies to book titles within essays or lists of works cited. The reason a comma is put in between the book titles is because, while they are in quotation marks, they are still part of a list. Most american style guides recommend using single marks to enclose a quotation that appears within another quotation. In general, you should italicize the titles of long works, like books, movies, or record albums. Do your students need additional practice with how to capitalize words in a title and use quotation marks correctly. The attendees included john doe, jane doe, sam sunny jr. Use commas to set off the name, nickname, term of endearment, or title of a person directly addressed. Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction and, but, yet, so, or nor, for when it. When the last comma in a series comes before and or or after daughterinlaw in the above example, it is known as the oxford comma.

In your writing, sometimes you may need to include the title of a magazine, the headline of a newspaper article, the title of a song or movie, and so on. Do you use a comma after a book title in a sentence answers. Explain using commas to punctuate peoples titles say. Whereas a comma is needed before and after the state in formulations such as new york, new york, when the city and state are used as the title of a work, no comma is needed following the name of the state, unless the grammar of the rest of the sentence requires it after watching the movie new york, new york, we went out to dinner.

Commas should sometimes be placed before and after names and titles. Many teachers require students to use modern language association style for research papers and essays covering language arts, cultural studies, and the humanities. We explore best practices for punctuation in book titles, title pages, chapter headings, and more. We set off a persons title with commas so the reader. When to put commas before titles and names restrictive and nonrestrictive appositives. Use quotation marks for the titles of shorter pieces of work. Do not use a comma for titles that appear before the persons name, such as the reverend joe smith or doctor mary richards. The book title, book, is not parenthetical content in your sentence.

However, we can obtain some guidance from our rule 6 of commas, which states, use a comma to separate the city from the state and after the state in a document. This usage, however, has now largely disappeared, and the modern custom is to write most titles in italics. The good news is that questions testing this rule dont show up. As you write, for the second and following instances you can use just the latinized version. Use roman type in quotation marks for individual journal article titles. When to use italics, underlining, and quotation marks, and how to use correct capitalization how to properly punctuate titles properly punctuating titles of literature, music, art, movies, and other works can be confusing, and the rules arent always consistent from resource to resource regarding this topic. There is a trick to remembering how to treat titles in mla style, and it works well enough that you can commit most types of titles to memory. Use a comma to shift between the main discourse and a quotation. Using quotation marks in titles punctuation khan academy. Philip roth, author of portnoys complaint and many other books is a perennial contender for the nobel prize.

In the following example, commas are used to set off the by phrase because the phrase is not integral to the meaning of the sentence life after life, by kate atkinson, won several book awards if you remove the phrase, the meaning is the same. Eat, pray, love, harry potter and the deathly hollows and bossypants why do writers put a comma that separates a title from other in between the quotation marks. Scorsese on scorsese by david thompson, the era of franklin d. Should commas be used around by and an authors name after. For example, if you were to say he likes bananas, oranges, and carrots, you would have to put commas between each item that he is said to like. Quotes should not be used, only italics or underline for a book title. How to separate a list of descriptions with commas dummies. More descriptive words that you shouldnt separate from other descriptions or from the words that they describe include other, another. This guideline is a part of the english wikipedias manual of style it is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense, and occasional exceptions may apply. As we mention in the post, book titles and magazine names are italicized, and articles are enclosed in quotation marks.

A colon is used to give emphasis, present dialogue, introduce lists or text, and clarify composition titles. You do not need commas here because the book title is essential information. For example, when a title is followed by two subtitles, we use two colons. In english, when punctuating these magazine titles, headlines, and song or movie titles, keep in mind these two options. You have to, however, use proper capitalization at the metadata. Most newspapers and magazines drop the oxford comma in a simple series, apparently. Quotation marks in titles a couple of generations ago, it was the custom to enclose all titles in quotation marks.