BOLD Educational Software Using Commas with APA Style

Use a comma

• between elements (including before and and or) in a series of three or more items.
• to set of a nonessential or nonrestrictive clause, that is, a clause that embellishes a sentence but if removed would leave the grammatical structure and meaning of the sentence intact.
• to separate two independent clauses joined b a conjunction.
• to set of the year in exact dates.
• to set of the year in parenthetical reference citations.
• to separate groups of three digits in most numbers of 1,000 or more

Do not use a comma

• before an essential or restrictive clause, that is, a clause that limits or defines the material it modifies.
• between the two parts of a compound predicate
• to separate parts of measurement.

(see pages 88-89 of the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association)

Directions: Click on "Practice" and a sentence will appear in the top text-area. Insert commas or remove commas (if necessary) according to APA guidelines. When you are finished, click on "Correct APA Style" to find out how to correctly punctuate the sentence according to APA guidelines on pages 78-80 of the APA Publication Manual. After you've checked the correct punctuation, click on the "Explanation" to find out why the sentence was punctuated the way it was.

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Diane M. Dusick, Ph.D.
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