My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

Non-restrictive: I heartlessly tore all the
flowers out of the ground; they also looked
like weeds.
*4 0
10.     Before  and  after  an  appositive  (that’s  a  word  or  phrase  that  defines  or
modifies a noun or pronoun that comes before it):
I, Jane Jones, declare that I was at home on the evening of 25 September.

---

Chérie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, was accused of not
liking cats.
And again, note the difference between:
My upstairs
neighbour Bill
plays loud
music .
There could also be an upstairs neighbour
called Ben, for all we know.
My upstairs
neighbour, Bill,
plays loud
music .
Bill is the only upstairs neighbour.
11.     Between  a  dependent  clause  and  an  independent  clause,  where  the
dependent clause comes first.
After lunch, I felt rather unwell.
The comma here is optional, but it does indicate (the possibility of) a pause
for  breath.  However,  you  wouldn’t  pause  for  breath  in  the  sentence  I  felt
rather unwell after lunch , so no comma is necessary.
12.     After  consecutive  adjectives  that  are  equally  important  in  describing  a
noun:
In the dreary light of the morning, the rows of grey, pebble-dashed houses,
with their unkempt, litter-strewn gardens, failed to inspire tender thoughts of
home .
13.   In front of conjunctions such as like, although , but , or , so, and and yet when
they are used to link two independent clauses:
The show was over , but the crowd refused to leave.
It’s going to be a long night, so let’s get those coffees in.
Be  careful  with  and,  however.  Unless  you  are  a  devotee  of  the  Oxford
comma, put a comma before and only if it introduces a new idea.