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The comma is a punctuation mark whose name comes from the Latin "virgûla-", which means wand, small dash or line. This word was entered into a dictionary for the first time in Morais (2nd ed., 1813) (Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (1986). Etmológico Nova Fronteira. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Froteira). The function of the comma is to separate elements that have the same syntactic function within a sentence or between different sentences, in order to avoid ambiguities, and not represent pauses in orality, as many people tend to think. Examples: (1) That one, teacher, I don't like. (Vocative – someone talks TO the teacher) and (2) I don't like that teacher. (Someone says THE teacher).
