Commas, Part IV

Commas 4

To set off dialogue

Use commas to set off the exact words of a speaker from the rest of the sentence.

The firefighter said, “We will try to keep the fire from spreading.”

The fireman said that they are containing the fire.
Do not use a comma or quotation marks for an indirect quote


In direct address
Zoe, do you know the answer?


To set off interjections

No kidding, you mean that one teacher has to manage a class of 40 students?

Uh-huh, and that teacher has other classes that size.


To set off explanatory phrases
English, the language computers speak worldwide, is also the most widely used language in science and medicine.

More than 750 million people, about an eighth of the world’s population, speak English as a foreign language.