A glimpse into the world of the wondrous comma: FANBOYS

Stephanie Smith – University of South Florida

Definition of a commaAccording to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

(2008b), a comma is

“a punctuation mark, used especially as a mark of separation

within the sentence.”

Purpose of a comma

(The Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University, 2008a)

oTo signify a pause in the reading

oTo clarify the meaning of a sentence

FANBOYS(Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008; The

Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University, 2008a)

FANBOYS: a pneumonic device used to represent the coordinating conjunctions that NEED a comma

(placed before the conjunction) when a coordinating conjunction is

used in a compound sentence, separating 2 independent clauses

The BreakdownCoordinating conjunction:o “joins together words or word groups of

equal grammatical rank” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2008c)

o clarifies the relationship between the 2 clauses (Online Writing Lab at California State University at Sacramento, 2008)

Compound sentence: a sentence containing at least 2 independent clauses (The Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University, 2008)

The Breakdown (cont.)

Clause: a set of words with a subject and predicate that contributes to a compound sentence (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2008a)

Independent clause: “a clause that has a subject and a verb and can stand alone; a complete sentence” (The Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University, 2008)

The Coordinating Conjunctions(Online Writing Lab at California State University at Sacramento, 2008 ; The

Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008)

For

And

Nor

But

Or

Yet

So

The Coordinating Conjunctions(cont.) (Online Writing Lab at California State University at Sacramento, 2008)

The Implied Relationship:o And: additiono But & Yet: opposition, contrast,

concessiono For: causeo So: result, effecto Or & Nor: choice, option,

alternative

FANBOYS in useo The semester is almost over, but

I still have 3 more finals.o I have been studying all week, and I want to take a break.

o I need to go eat, so I will count that as a break.

FANBOYS: Tip(The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008)

To help determine if your sentence falls under this rule, look at the part

after the conjunction separately.

If it can stand alone as a complete sentence, then you should use a comma before the conjunction.

FANBOYS: Tip exampleThe 2nd half of the following sentence can

stand alone as a complete sentence:I need to go to the mall, so Barkley can get a picture taken with Santa.

The 2nd half of the following sentence can NOT stand alone as a complete sentence:I went to the mall but forgot to bring Barkley.

ReferencesMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2008). Clause. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clause.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2008). Comma. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comma.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. (2008). Coordinating conjunction. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coordinating%20conjunction.

Online Writing Lab at California State University at Sacramento. (2008). Writing compound sentences using FANBOYS. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www.csus.edu/owl/index/sent/fanboys.htm.

The Writing Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2008). Commas handout. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/commas.html#4.

The Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University. (2008). Conquering the comma [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/692/01/.

The Writing Lab, The OWL at Purdue, & Purdue University. (2008). Punctuation in types of sentences. Retrieved December 6, 2008, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/566/02/.