Want to share your experiences, advice, or ideas with the GrammarPhile community? Do you have grammar, punctuation, editing questions you'd like answered? Submit guest post ideas or questions to conni@proofreadnow.com.
Current Articles | RSS Feed
Have you ever felt like Oscar Wilde? If so, this article can help.
"I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out." -Oscar Wilde
Despite the difficulties many writers encounter, and the myriad rules describing their usage, commas have only two basic functions: they either separate or set off. Separating requires only one comma; setting off requires two.
A relative clause that is restrictive, that is, essential to the meaning of the sentence, should not be set off by commas. A nonrestrictive phrase or nonessential element is one that offers extra information but can be omitted without affecting meaning, and should be enclosed in commas, or if at the end of a sentence, preceded by a comma.
Sources: Gregg Reference Manual and Chicago Manual of Style
Allowed tags: <a> link, <b> bold, <i> italics