{"id":12544,"date":"2021-05-04T16:54:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T16:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=12544"},"modified":"2022-09-19T18:09:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T18:09:34","slug":"comma-after-occasionally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-occasionally\/","title":{"rendered":"Comma after &#8220;occasionally&#8221; \u2014 The Definitive Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}<\/style><p>If you&rsquo;ve ever written more than a few words in English, chances are good you&rsquo;ve run into commas.<\/p>\n<p>Commas, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-like\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">like<\/a><\/strong> it or not, are everywhere. So why are they so hard to understand?<\/p>\n<p>The truth is that they&rsquo;re not. Commas follow a fairly simple set of rules but can be a struggle for many writers and readers who may not have received clear instruction in school or other settings.<\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s take a look at how to use commas after one specific word, &ldquo;occasionally.&rdquo;<br>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-content\"><strong>When do you place a comma after &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo;?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-content\"><strong>The word &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; means that something doesn&rsquo;t happen very often. When using &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; in a sentence, you only need a comma after the word if it is set off from the sentence as nonessential information or appears at the end of introductory phrase. You should never use a comma after &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; when the word is used to directly describe a verb or if it appears elsewhere in an introductory phrase.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-content\"><strong>When to use commas after &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-content\">Typically, adverbs like &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; are placed directly in front of a verb without being followed by a comma.<\/p>\n<p>As we can see from the examples above, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-or-after-however\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">however<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-sometimes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sometimes<\/a><\/strong> you do need a comma after &ldquo;occasionally.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>One reason you might is because adverbs can also serve as ways to introduce an entire clause or sentence. Additionally, the word may be an example of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-or-after-parentesis\/\">nonessential information<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s take a look at these cases and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-a-quotation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">how to use a comma<\/a><\/strong> after &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; in each of them.<br>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Occasionally as nonessential information<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-content\">Nonessential information is anything in a sentence you can take out and still have the sentence carry its intended meaning.<\/p>\n<p>For example, &ldquo;I eat fish&rdquo; has only essential information. You can&rsquo;t remove any word and still say exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-content\">Sometimes, it&rsquo;s not really <em>essential<\/em> that the word &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; be included <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/thus-in-a-sentence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in the sentence<\/a><\/strong> to carry the meaning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-content\">If you&rsquo;re listing three things somebody enjoys and want to show that the first two are more common than the third, for example, you might put &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; in front of the third to show it&rsquo;s not as common.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-content\">It&rsquo;s worth noting that this use of &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; is mostly for emphasis. It&rsquo;s a little counter-intuitive, but in this case marking information as nonessential just draws more attention to it.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<p class=\"text-content\"><\/p><div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Mrs. Jones reads gardening manuals, cookbooks and, occasionally, three-thousand page epic poems about slaughtering one&rsquo;s enemies.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Here, the word occasionally is used primarily for comedic effect. Setting it off from the rest of the sentence technically marks it as nonessential information.<\/p>\n<p>In reality, it just clues the reader in to the punchline.<br>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Occasionally at the end of an introductory phrase<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-content\">Introductory phrases are groups of words that introduce a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/clauses-vs-phrases\/\">clause<\/a><\/strong> or longer sentence.<\/p>\n<p>With most introductory phrases, you need to place a comma in between the phrase and the rest of the sentence.<\/p>\n<p>That means if your introductory clause ends with &ldquo;occasionally,&rdquo; you will usually need to place a comma after it.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<p class=\"text-content\"><\/p><div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;We went swimming occasionally, in the days when I was young.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>When not to use commas after &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo;<\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-content\">Although there are some cases, noted above, when commas after occasionally are grammatical, in most cases they <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/cringy-vs-cringey\/\">should not be used<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Occasionally as an adverb directly describing a specific word or phrase<\/h3>\n<p class=\"text-content\">The good thing about adverbs is that there are very well-defined rules about commas in between them and the word they modify.<\/p>\n<p>To be honest, it&rsquo;s only one rule: don&rsquo;t use a comma after occasionally when it&rsquo;s modifying a specific word or phrase in a sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Just follow the word with the word or phrase it modifies immediately, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-or-after-instead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">instead<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<p class=\"text-content\"><\/p><div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;I occasionally eat fish.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Lightning occasionally flashed, filling the sky with light.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Here, the word &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; appears directly in front of the words it modifies. No commas required.<br>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Comma usage with &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; as an introductory adverb<\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-content\">We&rsquo;ve already covered introductory phrases. What about when &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; is used as a single-word introductory phrase?<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-finally\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Commas are actually optional after very short introductory phrases<\/a><\/strong>, but a good rule of thumb for introductory adverbial phrases is to add a comma <a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/most-if-not-all-punctuation-commas\/\">if<\/a> they modify the entire clause or sentence they proceed rather than just a single part of it.<\/p>\n<h4>Examples<\/h4>\n<p class=\"text-content\"><\/p><div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Occasionally, Susan strikes gold.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"text-content\"><\/p><div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Occasionally walking is good for your health.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p>If this is too confusing, you can almost always rephrase a sentence that starts with occasionally to be clearer and not require a comma.<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Susan occasionally strikes gold.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Walking occasionally is good for your health.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-12554 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin.jpeg\" alt=\"Comma after occasionally: The Definitive Guide\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-735x1103.jpeg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-223x335.jpeg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-231x347.jpeg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-347x520.jpeg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-427x640.jpeg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-512x768.jpeg 512w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-640x960.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-720x1080.jpeg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin.jpeg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-12554 size-full eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201000%201500'%3E%3Crect%20width='1000'%20height='1500'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Comma after occasionally: The Definitive Guide\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin.jpeg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin.jpeg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin.jpeg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-200x300.jpeg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-735x1103.jpeg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-223x335.jpeg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-231x347.jpeg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-347x520.jpeg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-427x640.jpeg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-512x768.jpeg 512w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-640x960.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Comma-after-occasionally-Pin-720x1080.jpeg 720w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>The meaning and use of &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; in a nutshell<\/h2>\n<p>The word &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; is an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-recently\/\">adverb<\/a><\/strong> meaning that something doesn&rsquo;t happen often. You can use this word to show that something you do is unusual, rather than habitual.<\/p>\n<p>If you aren&rsquo;t familiar with the grammatical term, an adverb is used primarily to describe verbs like &ldquo;walk&rdquo; or &ldquo;swim&rdquo; or &ldquo;self-destruct.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Adverbs can also be used to describe other things, though, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-such-as\/\">such as<\/a><\/strong> adjectives, clauses, entire sentences and even other adverbs.<\/p>\n<p>No matter how it&rsquo;s being used, just remember that &ldquo;occasionally&rdquo; means &ldquo;something that is not frequent.&rdquo;<br>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Examples<\/h3>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;It occasionally rains on sunny days.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;I like yellow and occasionally purple.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<p>These are pretty straightforward uses of &ldquo;occasionally.&rdquo; Let&rsquo;s look at some more complicated ones.<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Mr. Strauss listens to opera, waltzes and, occasionally, hip hop.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"su-note\" style=\"border-color:#e5e54c;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#FFFF66;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\">&ldquo;Occasionally, I am filled with an inexplicable sadness.&rdquo;<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&rsquo;ve ever written more than a few words in English, chances are good you&rsquo;ve run into commas. Commas, like it or not, are everywhere. So why are they so hard to understand? The truth is that they&rsquo;re not. Commas follow a fairly simple set of rules but can be a struggle for many writers &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"Article","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1119,1116],"tags":[80,548],"class_list":["post-12544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-comma-rules","category-grammar","tag-comma","tag-comma-after-occasionally"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12544"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12563,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12544\/revisions\/12563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}