Comma Down—Commas in a Series / Compound Subjects #1
When two or more subjects in a sentence share the same verb, we call it a compound subject.
Chickadees and cardinals frequent my winter feeders.
In this sentence, chickadees and cardinals both share the verb frequent. We call this a compound subject but, as you can see, no comma is needed because there are only two elements. In this case, the conjunction separates sufficiently.
But consider this:
Chickadees, cardinals, titmice and jays swarmed the feeder.
Yikes! In this case, I need more food and should consider, perhaps, erecting another feeder.
Oh, right. Commas. You need them, too. Especially if the elements get a bit more complicated—like so:
The boys next door, the twins on the next block, the family from Encino and the Crisofarinario kids from our old school were invited over for a pig roast.
The subject of a sentence, then, is the main noun or pronoun plus anything that modifies it. Those modifiers can take up a fair amount of real estate and so commas become all the more important.
If you noodle around the Comma Down category of this website, you’ll find a couple of posts about Commas in a Series. You’ll also find that those rules apply here. Three or more elements in a series—including three or more subjects that share a single verb—must be separated by commas.
If you look around this category a little more, you’ll see a post about using the Oxford comma. You’ll also see that I don’t. Ever. That’s why there’s no comma after “titmice” or “the family from Encino” in the sentences above. You are free to put one there if you like or if you are required to by your teacher or employer. But, please, be consistent. If you use the Oxford comma, take a stand and use it always. I choose to use it never. My stand on this issue is not always popular and it’s not always easy, but it’s the hill that I have chosen to defend to the end.
Now you try it.
Here are some subjects:
pen paper pencil keyboard crayon paintbrush canvas notebook screen key door chain lock fob combination carabiner heart car diary paper clip corgi labradoodle mutt stray cocker spaniel rescue Scoobie Doo Eddie my last boyfriend my best girlfriend the crazy cat next door the Tesla in the far left lane DeLorean Batmobile Barbie Dream Car Titanic Apollo 13 The Starship Enterprise the junky jalopy on the corner my Lamborghini the third grade show about condensation penguins chaos the fourth tree from the north corner of the third lot on East Magnolia Street
Contribute to the random fun by adding ten of your own to the list. Modify at will.
Here are some verbs:
Prestidigitate hyperventilate walk visit presume prevaricate meddle jeopardize rebel recede recall refuse marry disapprove amble are were want waffle cavort post employ drive travel search perform entertain contain cost appear reveal create exercise explore hum
Add ten more. I’m exhausted.
Using some, all or none of the words above, write a minimum of five random, unrelated sentences, a paragraph, a story or a great American novel. Each sentence must have a compound subject of three or more elements. Feel free to have fun with adjectives. Place commas wherever necessary to separate elements for clarity.
(Look for some examples on the Compound Subjects #2 page.)
Answers to Commas with Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses
The wind that had blown for hours finally calmed. The rain, which started yesterday, kept on until the stream rose and lapped the back doorstep. Serena, who didn’t sleep at all last night, was both grateful for the daylight and fearful of what it would reveal. When she looked out on the property, she saw the small vegetable garden that she had just planted under a foot of water and the larger botanical garden that the place was known for swamped with mud and debris. The grove of birches, which was planted by her ancestors, struggled to remain erect and she feared they would fall before the storm, which was the worst in her memory, packed up the last of its bluster and moved on. Serena, who was eighty-six and childless, was the last of her line. She worked all her life to preserve this property, which began with the sweat of her great-great grandparents, on her own. But she was too old and too alone to come back from a storm like this. She sat in the old rocker, which had been in the house for over a hundred years, put her face in her hands and cried.