Introducing the Comma
Commas are a tricky little piece of punctuation, and they give many people headaches. In my students’ essays, I frequently see commas where they don’t belong, and I see necessary commas left out. I make it one of my goals to help demystify the comma for my students.
The most common missing comma is the one that comes after an introductory element in a sentence.
You need a comma after an introductory word:
Actually, I’ve never been to Disney World.
After an introductory phrase:
After the storm, many people were without electricity for days.
And after an introductory clause:
Because it was so hot outside, we decided to stay home.
Generally, it’s safe to use a comma in any of these cases. Be careful, though–sometimes what looks like an introductory phrase is actually the subject of the sentence:
Starting an essay without doing your research is never a good idea.
To be or not to be is the question. (apologies to Mr. Shakespeare)
If a sentence starts with a gerund (-ing) or infinitive (to+verb) phrase, using a comma is incorrect!
Erin on June 28, 2007 
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I have been taught that you need a comma before the conjunction in lists, but people often argue that fact. Which is right?
balls, bats, and gloves
or
balls, bats and gloves
PS - The Subscribe to Comments plugin would be very useful for readers
The comma signals a pause in the flow of speech. Those who want to eliminate the comma before the last element of the series are ignoring this.
If we have just bats and gloves, we say “bats ‘n gloves” with no pause between the words. Now, if we prepend balls to make a series, the rythm changes a bit. Instead of saying balls, bats ‘n gloves, we put a short pause after each item: balls, bats, ‘n gloves.
Opinion seems to be split, but publishers are happy if we change the rules every 20 years or so.
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