Punctuation

[salivia_baker]

Whenever I write in English I am unsure when to use comma and when not. Or maybe I should rather make a full stop instead of putting a comma there.

May question is: what are the rules? When do I have to use a comma and when is it optional?
And do you think it's better to use commas or better start a new sentence?

[henn94382121]

From this year I haven't seen any. But I have seen some older ones.

[gabriella2013]

Dear Salivia,
This is a big topic, but the basic rules for the use of commas in English are as follows:
1 ) Use a comma to separate the elements in a series, or a list of things.
For example:
"She bought some new clothes, make-up, shoes and a necklace.
2) Use a comma before the conjunctions "and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so" to connect two independent clauses.
For example "He studied really hard, but the exam was very difficult."
3) To separate parenthetical elements of the sentence from the main clause. For example Harry Potter, the famous fiction written by JK Rowling, was a box office hit around the world when it was turned into a film.
4) Use a comma to avoid confusion, in other words, to emphasise the separation of different sentence elements.
For example:
Compare:
"For most the season is already finished.
With:
For most, the season is already finished.
The rules for commas are many, but these are a few tips to get you started. Hope they're helpful.
Good luck!
Kind regards,
Gabriella
Team EnglishClass101.com