Comma

While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a brief pause.

Use commas in the following cases:

• To separate words and word groups in a list that contains more than 2 items.
• To separate conjunctive adverbs (in addition, also, on the other hand, however, moreover, furthermore, for example, finally).
• To separate 2 adjectives when the order of the adjectives is interchangeable.

To determine whether a comma is needed, try to put and between the 2 adjectives — if the result makes sense, add the comma.

• To separate 2 independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but).

Do not use a comma instead of a period when speaking of 2 independent clauses. To learn more about dependent and independent clauses, see this Grammarly article.

Do not use a comma to separate correlative conjunctions (both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also). To learn more about conjunctions, see this Grammarly article.

• To separate an independent clause from an introductory phrase or introductory clause (that is, a dependent clause found at the beginning of the sentence). If a sentence starts with an independent clause followed by a dependent clause, no comma is required.

You can always tell a dependent clause/introductory phrase by the subordinating conjunctions although, since, if, before, after, unless, until, for (to), as, though, that, once, when, while and because.

To learn more about introductory phrases, see this Grammarly article. To learn more about introductory words, see this Grammarly article.

• To introduce a nonrestrictive clause or phrase. You can always tell a nonrestrictive clause by the relative pronoun which.

Do not use a comma when introducing a restrictive clause. You can always tell a restrictive clause by the relative pronouns that, whose and whom.

Do not use a comma when a relative pronoun is part of a prepositional phrase (such as for which, in which, on which, to whom, for whom and so on).

To learn more about restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, see this Grammarly article. To learn more about prepositional phrases, see this Grammarly article.

Examples

1. Orchestrator leverages the backup, replication, restore and failover capabilities of Veeam Backup & Replication. [list]
2. However, to work with failover plans in Orchestrator, you do not need to categorize clusters, hosts or storage objects. [conjunctive adverb]
3. Prove recoverability with isolated, low-impact testing of VM replicas and applications they run. [interchangeable]
4. Automate failover processes to eliminate error-prone manual steps. [non-interchangeable]
5. The backup server is a Windows-based machine on which Veeam Backup & Replication is installed, it fills the role of the “configuration and control center”. [independent clauses]

The backup server is a Windows-based machine on which Veeam Backup & Replication is installed, and it fills the role of the “configuration and control center”. [independent clauses]

6. If you need to provide credentials that the script will use to run within the guest OS, perform the following steps. [introductory clause]
7. You can restart a VM from any restore point in a matter of minutes since there is no need to extract the VM from the backup file. [dependent clause]
8. You can generate an invoice automatically, according to a specific schedule, which can be configured as described in section Configuring Billing Notifications. [nonrestrictive]
9. Orchestrator provides reporting capabilities that let enterprises document their DR plans. [restrictive]
10. The user who launched the Veeam Backup & Replication console will be set as the owner of the restored object. [restrictive]