A Comma in a sentence that begins with a preposition means that the main clause is after the comma; for example, “The man goes to the office” is the main clause of the sentence:
*After having breakfast, the man goes to the office.
Two commas, as the parenthetical use, mean the phrase or the clause between them is the additional information from the main idea of the sentence; for instance, “who wears the glasses” is the additional information separated by two commas in the sentence:
*The old man, who wears the glasses, is my father.Then, three commas or more show a list or series of the same kind; like, the fruit in the sentence:
*Marry buys apples, bananas, oranges, and mangoes.Finally, “and” indicate that the two clauses in the sentence have positive related ideas, and “but” shows the contrasting related ideas of the two clauses in the sentence. Thus, “practice listening and speaking” and “practice reading and writing” are the ideas that are positively related in the sentence:
*Some students practice listening and speaking, and other practice reading and writing.On the other hand, “are diligent” and “are lazy” are the ideas that are in contrast and closely related in the sentence, “Some students are diligent, but other are lazy.”
Semi colon (;)
The semi colon separates the two sentences which have two closely related ideas; for example, “attend the class” and “pay attention to the lecture” are two closely related ideas of the sentences:
*The students attend the class; they pay attention to the lecture.Colon (:)
The colon introduces the additional information or examples that follow. “butter, sugar, flour, egg, and vanilla” are examples of the word, ingredients, in the sentence:
*The cake is made from the ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, egg, and vanilla.Dash (–)
It shows the phrase or clause between the dashes as the additional information in the sentence; for instance, “Ahmad, Fajri, and Furkhon” is the additional information in the sentence:
*The three young man –Ahmad, Fajri, and Furkhon– play football in the street.