Is it correct to use a comma before naming a list of items in a sentence? [closed]
The question is about the first comma use in the sentences below. I have not seen such comma-punctuation in a sentence that continues with naming several listed items. Is the first comma in these sentences grammatically correct? Or should we replace this with a colon?
I bought several items from the shop including, tomatoes, bananas, ketchup, chocolate, cucumber, bread, butter, green tea and milk.
I bought several items from the shop such as, tomatoes, bananas, ketchup, chocolate, cucumber, bread, butter, green tea and milk.
Solution 1:
Colons are used to introduce a part of the sentence that is a dependent clause; here, including the colon would be correct as the part after can not act as an independent clause; leaving it as a comma is something I myself can not attest to, whether it is grammatically correct or not, though it is highly unnatural, and it is unnecessary to put a comma before the first item of a list.