Punctuation

A collection of 138 posts

When to Use a Comma After 'In the interim' or 'In the course of'

At the beginning of a sentence, we do not need to place a comma after short adverbial phrases, like “in the interim”. Longer introductory phrases (more than four words), such as “in the course of...”, are commonly followed by a comma.

Commas With 'In the beginning', 'At first', 'At the start', etc.

At the start of a sentence, you can optionally add a comma after “at the beginning of...”, “at the start of...”, “in the beginning”, or “at first” to avoid confusion, add emphasis, or signal a pause. In case of doubt, use it to help readers understand the meaning of the sentence.