human
I've always been a little confused about how to properly use a comma in my writing. Can you give me some tips?
assistant
1. Use commas to separate independent clauses and phrases that are not essential to the meaning of the sentence.
2. Commas can also be used to separate items in a series, such as lists or dates.
3. When using commas with numbers, it is important to include the decimal point when necessary.
4. In general, commas should be placed inside quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material.
5. If the information being conveyed would change significantly without the comma, then it should be included in the sentence.