Let us go together through the low gateway, with its battlemented top and small window in the center, into the inner road.
And now I wish that the reader, before I bring him into St. Mark's Place, would imagine himself in a little English town.
6. To separate similar words or phrases used, in a series, in the same construction, and not joined by conjunctions.
It was done quickly, neatly, artistically.
It was done quickly and neatly.
He was a big, hearty, happy fellow.
The horse was a quiet, sensible old beast. [Here quiet and sensible limit old beast, not beast alone.]
He was gay and jovial, gloomy and despondent, as the weather indicated.
If the members of the series are joined by conjunctions, commas are unnecessary. When, however, a conjunction joins the last two members of the series, the comma is employed.[3]
Bread and butter.
She was good and true and beautiful.
They visited Rome, Florence, and Venice.
7. To indicate the omission of words logically necessary to the construction.
One was tall; the other, short.
Admission, twenty-five cents.
8. To mark off phrases when they open a sentence or are not closely connected with the context. Phrases occurring in their usual places and closely connected with the context are, however, not marked off by commas.
Following the dim path, we proceeded slowly.
On his arrival in England, he found himself an object of general interest and admiration.
With rare delicacy, he refused to receive this token of gratitude.
The case was heard, according to the usage of the time, before a committee of the whole house.
From a child he hated the English.
He refused with emphasis this token of gratitude.
9. To mark off adverbs and adverb phrases which have a connective force. Notice the difference between (a) "you will see, then, that you have been misled," and (b) "you will then see that you have been misled."