Commas and Time Phrases

Using commas can be difficult, but thankfully you don’t need to know all the rules to get a great IELTS score. Still, it is important to know some of the rules and especially the common ones or ones that can really impact the meaning of a sentence.

Today, I want to show you how to use commas with time phrases. Time phrases are simply phrases that indicate time, such as “yesterday” or “seven years ago.”

Introductory Time Phrases and Comma Use

First of all, when you begin a sentence with a time phrase, you should follow it with a comma. For example:

• In 1990, interest rates were at 3%.
• Thirty years ago, it was easier to buy a house.
• In ten years, it may be impossible for young people to get on the property ladder.
• Yesterday, he announced his decision to retire.
• Last week, we all met for coffee.

In each case, you can see that I’ve used a time phrase and then followed it with a comma. The comma separates it from the main clause.

These time phrases are called “introductory phrases.” They are a type of cohesive device that begins a sentence, and even when they don’t include times, we still put a comma after them.

Inserting Time Phrases into Longer Clauses

When you insert a time phrase into a longer clause, you have two choices:

1. Put two commas around the time phrase to set it apart.
2. Put no commas around the time phrase.

For example:

• He shocked everyone, about two weeks ago, when he said he was selling the company.
• He shocked everyone about two weeks ago when he said he was selling the company.

The main clause here is:

• He shocked everyone when he said he was selling the company.

(Okay, that’s actually two clauses, but even so the time phrase is inserted into the middle of a longer idea.)

Note that it would be wrong to include just one of those commas:

• He shocked everyone, about two weeks ago when he said he was selling the company. [INCORRECT]
• He shocked everyone about two weeks ago, when he said he was selling the company. [INCORRECT]

Here are some more examples:

• He found out, not more than a few hours ago, that he was going to be fired.
• Many people in the late 20^th century believed that the world’s computer systems would crash at the start of the new millennium.
• I asked you a week ago to get this project finished!
• Humans learned, about fifty or so years ago, that this could potentially cause cancer.

Which brings me to the next point…

When to Omit Commas

As I’ve already said, we can choose to omit the two commas, but why?

1. The first reason is grammatical.

Like relative clauses, we can decide whether the information is essential or non-essential. If you have a piece of information about time that is very important to the overall meaning of the sentence, you might choose to omit the commas. For example:

• She found out only a few days ago that she is going to be evicted.

Here, the time phrase “only a few days ago” seems vital to the overall meaning of the sentence, so it is logical to omit the commas.

2. The second reason is stylistic.

When we have lots of commas in a sentence, or even just a few commas in a short sentence, then it can feel cluttered and even confusing. Writing is about communication and that means putting across a clear meaning. If commas detract from that purpose, you might want to omit them. For example:

• For one thing, we were discussing, just a few days ago, the possibility of hiring a new team member.

This sentence is correct but you can see we have three commas. The first one is quite important because it follows the introductory phrase “for one thing” (a conjunctive adverb). We could then consider removing the following commas:

• For one thing, we were discussing just a few days ago the possibility of hiring a new team member.

This is true even if we decided to put the time phrase at the start:

• For one thing, just a few days ago, we were discussing the possibility of hiring a new team member.
• For one thing, just a few days ago we were discussing the possibility of hiring a new team member.

The second example here is a little better because there are fewer commas.

A Final Note

The above ideas are advice rather than absolute rules. If you are unsure, then think about the definite rules and follow them. You can learn the rules of comma use here.

Always remember that your aim is to communicate a clear idea. If commas help with that, then great. If they detract from that aim, then consider changing your sentence.

Also, in terms of IELTS scores, comma use has a fairly minimal effect. You obviously need to know the basics, but the above ideas are quite advanced and likely would not impact your score at all.