Final answer:
Commas in a list should be placed to separate items, with the Oxford comma before the conjunction in lists of three or more items. Information that is not essential should be enclosed in commas, and comma splices should be corrected by using a semicolon, adding a conjunction, or creating two separate sentences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question concerns the correct placement of commas in a list within a sentence. In English, there is something known as the serial or Oxford comma, which is a comma that's placed before the conjunction in a list of three or more items.
For the sentence 'Many students enjoy reading, writing, and mathematics', the commas are placed after 'reading' and 'writing' to separate the items in the list.
Practice Using Commas
It is important for students to understand the use of commas to separate nonessential information from a sentence. When information is essential, commas should not interrupt the flow of the sentence.
An example of nonessential information would be an additional comment or description that can be removed without altering the core meaning of the sentence. Conversely, no commas are needed around information that is essential to the meaning.
Regarding the sentences provided, it is important to identify and correct comma splices, which occur when two independent clauses are incorrectly joined by a comma without a coordinating conjunction.
For example, the correct punctuation for the following sentence would involve replacing the comma with a semicolon, adding a conjunction, or splitting it into two sentences: 'Many college students see their education as the way to become wealthy; some are sacrificing happiness to pursue high-paying careers.'