Types of comma, and rules surrounding them

The isolating/bracketing commas:

The most common type of commas and they are used to show a weak interruption in the sentence, something we could put in brackets hence the name. They usually occur in pairs although sometimes one of them won’t show.

He was, I thought at the time, a decent enough person.
I never realised, however, how much effort it will take to go to University.
Alfred Charles Gimson, born in 1917, was an English phonetician.

The easiest way to check whether you need commas is to imagine a given sentence without the interruption you’re trying to mark. If it still makes sense – commas should be there e.g. He was a decent enough person is still a sentence even after removing I thought at the time.

A listing comma:

It can be replaced by and or or:

I like eating bananas, watermelons and kiwis. / I like eating bananas and watermelons and kiwis.
I will go to Italy, Spain or Portugal. / I will go to Italy or Spain or Portugal.

A joining comma:

It is used to join two complete sentences into one and is always followed by and, or, but, while and yet.

I went to college, and my husband did as well.
I must have forgotten about my homework, or there was no homework at all.
I loved him, but he turned out to be a psychopath.
She was a good and loyal person, while his new girlfriend is a lying cheat.
The train was running, yet I felt I was stuck in the same place.

A gapping comma:

It is used when omitting words already used in a sentence in order to avoid repetition.

I dyed my hair black, and my sister, red.

Bear in mind the comma before and is a joining comma, whereas the one before red is a gapping comma (used instead of repeating has dyed her hair).

Avoid common mistakes in English 3: Coming and Going

When talking about their travels and commuting I often hear non-native speakers of English incorrectly use coming when they should be using going. So, which is the right one to use?

This is where it gets slightly complicated, because it depends on factors such as

The place you’re going to
Where you are
Whether the person you’re speaking to is already at that place (or likely to be there)

Basically

You go to see people
People come to see you

So, if you’ve failed to arrive at work one day the boss might call or text you (remember here the place where you work is often just referred to as “work”)

“Are you coming in to work today?” (the boss is at work so you are coming to them)
Or, maybe, you are making a call to explain the situation
“I’m really ill, I won’t be coming in to work today”
(the choice of coming or going is from the perspective of the person you’re talking to, in this case the person who you are talking to is/will be at work, this even applies if you are leaving a message on an answering machine or talking to someone who won’t be going in to work until later)

Suppose you are talking to your friend (who isn’t connected to your workplace)

“I’m not going in to work today”
(In this case you might consider going to see your friend and say to them: “I can come and see you instead”)

Finally, you may have heard a few expressions relation to coming and/or going

“I don’t know whether I’m coming or going”.
You would use this expression if you were confused and had too many things to think about. The idea being that a very confused person wouldn’t be able to decide if they weren’t coming or going.
“I can’t keep up with his comings and goings”
Here comings and goings means general movements and activities.

Hopefully, now that you’re armed with that information, you’ll be able to correctly tell people whether you’re coming or going.