Some remarks for a better understanding

Punctuation marks have to do both logical and rhetorical work. Their logical work is helping to make clear the grammatical relations between parts of a sentence or paragraph and the whole or other parts; their rhetorical work is contributing to emphasis, heightening effect, and regulating pace.
The Fowler brothers
Henry and Francis Fowler compiled A Dictionary of Modern English 1926

Compare:

Woman without her man is nothing. Woman: without her, man is nothing.

No comma preceding an object clause:

He said that he had no time.

No comma preceding a complementary clause:

He promised to be back soon.

No comma with and connecting two words, phrases or short clauses:

Everybody held the honorable and learned

member in great esteem.

Separating the terms of a series: words, phrases, and clauses of like construction used in a series:
Half a century ago, when I was a boy, we were still

taught to dislike and fear the Americans, to admire the English, and to feel inferior to both.

If the sentence continues after the last term of the series, put a comma subsequent to it:
I have desks, chairs, tables, and so forth, for sale.)

Two adjectives preceding a noun are separated by a comma if they are of equal weight. Compare:
He is an enterprising, ambitious man. Moltke was a brilliant military strategist.

brilliant modifies not the noun alone, but the second adjective and the noun thought of as a unit, whereas we can substitute enterprising and ambitious in the first case.

A comma precedes but except when this conjunction introduces an elliptical clause with no verb
Her style of dress was smart but not gaudy.

A comma precedes other coordinating conjunctions: or, nor, for, so, still, yet, else, then
He felt no fear, for he was a brave man.

The comma is omitted when the clauses are closely connected in thought.

The comma separates a series of subordinate clauses introduced with that Interpolations introduced by and, or etc. are separated by a comma:
He listened to, and approved of, my proposal. This is a very good, if not the best, translation. Some modern writers will sink to any level to be

different from, or superior to, ordinary people.

Essential, or defining, subordinate clauses are not separated by a comma:

Dont ask for another book until you have finished

this one.

Non-essential, or descriptive, subordinate clauses are separated by commas:

He has bought a new car, though I doubt if he can

afford it.

Exception: The truth is, he is lazy.

Essential relative clauses:

The man you see at the desk is the secretary.

Non-essential relative clauses:

Our wireless set, which has been broken for

weeks, is now mended.

The same rule applies to participles and adjectives without being, infinitives and gerunds.
The old house facing the road is for sale.

Participles forming a syntactical unit with the verb take no comma: to lie waiting, to come running, to remain sitting, to stand amazed Gerunds preceded by a preposition are interpolated parenthetically and are always marked off by commas:
It is as if the electors, after watching a few distant

eruptions, gradually discovered that the ground underneath them is giving away.

Interrupting phrases or clauses should always be marked off by commas:

This news, if it can be relied upon, is highly

significant. It is natural and, indeed, inevitable for human beings to err. But our situation, geologists insist, is by no means hopeless. Sir Anthony, by long experience and aptitude, is most likely to succeed.

Conjunctive adverbs, adverbs and adverbial phrases that modify an entire clause or sentence are usually enclosed by commas:
Accordingly, also, anyhow, anyway, besides,

consequently, furthermore, hence, however, indeed, likewise, moreover, namely, nevertheless, so, still, therefore After all, as a rule, at least, by the way, for example, I believe, on the other hand, to tell the truth, incidentally, oddly enough, on the contrary, in the first place, to be sure This road is, as a rule, closed to the public.

Words and phrases out of their natural position and elements added as an afterthought are marked off by commas:
To the wise and upright, old age brings many joys.

Question tags are marked off by commas:

You dont like this, do you?

Initial adverbs and phrases are marked off by commas:

In fact, he married her for the money.

The comma is used to avoid ambiguity:

Outside, the house looked bleak and sinister. ?Outside the house looked bleak and sinister. The day before, John was initiated. Doctor P. is a recognized authority at home, and abroad his articles are widely read. However, the incident may be explained in such a way as to satisfy public opinion. However the incident may be explained, the impression it has left is unfortunate.

 All is quiet; no life but our own breathes among

the rocks. He did not go to the city yesterday; he went to the fair instead. You think I have nothing to do; on the contrary, I am very busy. Every step might be deadly; yet there was no time for overmuch precaution. He is a graduate from Oxford; hence we expect a learned discussion.

It encloses parts of a sentence which explain or sum up preceding matter:

In the organic world, Darwin sought to grasp living

things in their relationships struggle for existence, natural selection, and survival of the fittest.

It introduces an abrupt change of thought:

Of course, there is one place safe from lawyers

in heaven.

It introduces a series, a summary, examples, illustrations, topics, formal quotations and direct discourse:
An Alaskan house is what a home is anywhere: a

center of family life. There are two ways to do the job: namely, a right way and a wrong way. The Prime Minister said: There will be no caving in to blackmail.

Final silent <e>: Words ending in silent <e> drop the <e> before terminations beginning with a vowel and retain it before terminations beginning with a consonant. Double e at the end of the word is retained before every termination except when the termination begins with an <e>. Other double vowels are retained in all cases.

Hate hated, nice nicest, like likable, Hateful, likely, paleness, solely Agree agreement, agreeable, agreeing BUT agreed Shampooed, shampooing, tiptoeing Change changeable Courage courageous Grace gracious Sacrilege - sacrilegious

Exceptions to the rule:

To singe singeing (cf. to sing singing) Compare holy (sacred) vs. holey (full of holes) Mile mileage, rate rateable Due duly, true truly, argue argument, whole

wholly, awe awful, nine - ninth Mortgage mortgagor, pledge pledgor

Final <e> as an independent syllable: recipe, apostrophe, catastrophe, epitome, facsimile

The letter <y> preceded by a vowel remains unchanged before terminations except:
Lay laid, pay paid, say said, day daily

The letter <y> preceded by a consonant is changed to <i> before terminations except:
Citylike, ladyship, clergyman, trying, babyish,

dryness, shyness

Die dying, lie lying, tie tying To ski skiing, taxi - taxiing

Picnic picnicking, picnicked, picnicker Traffic trafficker, panic panicked Critic criticism, public publicist Doubling final consonants: A single consonant following the short, accented vowels a, e, I, o and u is doubled before a termination beginning with a vowel.
Bigger, clapped, pottery, muddy, revved

Admitted, fulfilled, piggery, regrettable Handicapped, kidnapping, zigzagging, humbugged, nonplussed, worshipped Deterring, stirred, occurred, starry, firry (according to the rule) Offering, severing, preferable, reference, referee (the preceding vowel bears no accent or the word is derived from the Latin root fer)

In British English <l> is always doubled except after diphthongs. In American English <l> is doubled only after an accented vowel. Compelling, expelled, rebellion, repellent, excellent, distilled, controlled, patroller, appalling, enrolled (both in Br. and Am. En.) Cancelled, travelling, counsellor, libelled, marshalled, towelling (one <l> in Am. En.)

<l> is not doubled before the suffixes -ic, -ish, -ism, -ist, -ite, -ity, -ize:
Angelic, vocalist, civility, equalize, devilish,

liberalism BUT: Medallist, duellist (one <l> in Am. En.) idyllic, crystallize, tranquillize, metallic Cancellation, chancellor, perilous, marvellous, paralleled, woollen

Almighty, already, almost, altogether, until, always, welcome, welfare, fulfil; dullness

A consonant occurring between a short vowel and <l> is always doubled:

Dribble, nibble, huddle, middle, baffle, giggle,

battle, rattle, kettle; tackle, tickle

<ie> or <ei>:
Piece, niece, priest, brief, chief, grief, relief, thief,

believe, achieve, relieve, field, shield, yield Deceive, deceit, conceive, receive, receipt, ceiling Exceptions: seize, weird

Words with the initial sound /di-/ are usually spelt de- except:
Digest, dilapidated, dilemma, dimension,

diminish, direct, diverge, diverse, divide, divine, division, divorce, divulge

Words with the initial sound /dis-/ are usually spelt dis- except:
Descend, describe, despair, despise, destroy,

destruction, despoil, despond, despondency

Words with the initial sound /p :/ is spelt perexcept:

Purchase, purpose, purport, pursue, pursuit

The Latin prefix in-, written im- before labials, is common in English; in some words it was derived from a later French form and is spelt en- or em-:
Embalm, embark, embrace, encompass,

encounter, enroll, entail, endanger, ensnare

For- vs. fore-:

Forearm, forebode, forecast, forefathers,

forefinger, forego (to precede), foreknow, foresee, foretell these are related in meaning to the words before, forward Forbid, forbear, forfeit, forget, forgive, forgo (to renounce)

The syllable / bl/ is always spelt ible after [s, ns, z]: accessible, sensible, visible
Exceptions: dispensable, indispensable

-able is attached to verbs ending with -ate:

Creatable, debatable, calculable, translatable

-able is attached to verbs ending with vowels:

Agreeable, renewable, pliable, pitiable

-able is used after a long vowel:

Available, unbelievable, notable, desirable

Exceptions: audible, plausible, exhaustible, deducible, reducible, feasible, discernible, convertible, coercible Collapsible, combustible, compatible, credible, edible, eligible, flexible, gullible, horrible, invincible, intelligible, negligible, perceptible, susceptible, terrible, tangible Dissoluble, soluble, voluble

Any verb with a noun form ending in /ns/ which has no adjectival derivative ending in /nt/ is spelt -ance in the noun form:
Acceptance, alliance, appearance, utterance,

performance, guidance, resemblance

When the accent in the noun form is shifted:

Confer-conference, infer-inference, prefer-

preference; also difference, condolence, occurrence, recurrence, concurrence

Words ending in /nt/, used to denote the agent of the action involved is spelt -ant:
Accountant, assailant, assistant, defendant,

deodorant, informant, stimulant, servant etc.

We write -ent and -ence when they are preceded by i:

Ancient, patient, omniscient, salient, efficient

Exceptions: allegiance, brilliant, luxuriant, radiant, valiant, variant

Appearance BUT apparent Consistent, insistent, persistent, existent BUT resistant (the same holds for the noun forms) Pendant (ornament) vs. pendent (suspended) Confidant (friend) vs. confident (trustful) Maintain maintenance Abstain abstinence Pertain pertinent Currant (berry) vs. current (a stream)

Common words ending in -re in Br. En.:

Cadre, calibre, centre, fibre, litre, macabre, metre,

sabre, sceptre, sepulchre, spectre, theatre, acre, massacre, mediocre, nacre, wiseacre (the underlined words are spelt -er in Am. En.)

Words that are not derived from one specific verb end in -or: bachelor, chancellor, juror
Exception: sail sailor

Words derived from verbs ending in /aiz/ are spelt with -er: advertiser, organizer
Exception: supervisor, divisor, incisor

-or always follows ss and -at: agressor, compressor, dictator, legislator, translator
Exception: debater

-or follows every t in general: ancestor, orator, solicitor, impostor, proprietor

Exceptions: adapter, deserter, interpreter,

promoter, corrupter, digester, idolater

Other cases: councillor, counsellor, conqueror governor, purveyor, surveyor, survivor, warrior
Beggar, burglar, liar, scholar, friar, vicar, templar

Verbs ending in -ify: amplify, certify, edify etc.

Exceptions: liquefy, rarefy, putrefy, stupefy

-ity is added to form nouns. After <i> use -ety:

Notoriety, piety, propriety, society, variety

Chaste-chastity, sane-sanity, severe-severity Safe-safety, sure-surety, subtle-subtlety Baritone, cider, gipsy (gypsy Am. En.), siphon, siren, syrup (sirup Am. En.), tyre (tire Am. En.), judgment, abridgment, lodgment, acknowledgment, dislodgment (preffered)

British En. -our, American En. -or:

Ardour, armour, behaviour, candour, clamour,

colour, demeanour, endeavour, favour, flavour, glamour, harbour, honour, humour, odour, labour, parlour, rancour, rigour, rumour, savour, splendour, valour, vapour, vigour, neighbour, saviour

Words ending in -or: error, horror, liquor, mirror, pallor, stupor, squalor, tenor, terror, torpor, tremor, turgor

Connection, deflection, inflection, reflection (the spelling with -xion is accepted in Br. En.) Flexion, complexion, genuflexion, crucifixion (Am. En. Genuflection); BUT fiction When a word is derived from a word in <x>:
Transfixion, fluxion

Words not derived from Latin nouns in -xio:

Attraction, putrefaction, direction, injection,

perfection, protection, addiction, constriction, concoction, construction, production etc.

Words that are not reduced to an English word after the termination has been dropped are spelt with -ise (from Latin past participle)
Advertise, advise, baptise, comprise,

compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, enterprise, exercise, franchise

Exceptions: capsize, to prize Analyse, catalyse, paralyse, dialyse, electrolyse (Am. En. Analyze, catalyze etc.)

Derivatives of current English words are spelt with z (the suffix -ize is derived from Greek)
Authorize, characterize, centralize, criticize,

equalize, legalize, realize, specialize, modernize, neutralize, visualize, fertilize, economize, jeopardize, colonize, summarize, dramatize, systematize, fraternize, hypnotize

Note: these are also spelt with s in British English.

Cook, Vivian (2008) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching, Hodder Education, Hachette Livre UK (4th edition) Friedrich, Wolf (1965) English Punctuation and Orthography, Max Hueber Verlag: Muenchen Visit the Oxford dictionaries website: http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/