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More on Commas
Last month’s column
brought quite a few responses; apparently, many people do struggle with commas.
So, here's a little more help.
I read these two
sentences recently in a business publication:
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Naisp.net, the
Internet division of North Attleborough Electric (NAE) has launched an 11Mbps
wireless link in the North Attleborough Industrial Park.
Senator Marc
Pacheco and Bob Durand, Secretary of Environmental Affairs
recently announced the creation of a new program, the Heritage River
Program, aimed at exploring, celebrating and building upon
the rich heritage surrounding the rivers of the Commonwealth. |
In each sentence, there is
information about the subject (shown underlined). Because this information isn’t essential to the
understanding of the sentence, it could easily be left out.
One method of showing it’s interesting but nonessential is to place it
within parentheses. But because
parentheses are so large and call so much attention to themselves, the preferred
mark is the comma. What we all have
to remember is that we must use two commas, not one, in place of the
parentheses. Each comma replaces
one-half of the pair.
With introductory
remarks, the rule is slightly murky. Most
grammar texts require commas after them, but many of the texts also say that if
the introductory remark is short, no comma is necessary.
What no one ever says is how short is short enough not to need the comma!
I’ve always felt that life already has enough real issues to deal with;
if I write an introductory remark, I follow it with a comma.
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Because I was
running late, I forgot my lunch.
If I call before
7 p.m., I’ll be able to reserve the table.
When Jon calls
me from work, I always feel special.
Until then, I’ll try not to worry. |
Many introductory
phrases begin with subordinating conjunctions such as although, after, as,
because, before, if, until, whether, and when.
When
writing compound sentences, the rule states that you need both a comma and a
coordinating conjunction. Many
people fail to realize that they’ve written two complete sentences and place
only a comma between them. This is
known as the dreaded comma splice!
Here are some
examples of comma splices:
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Thank you for your
business, we’re glad you liked our product.
We’re open until
9 p.m., please call if you need anything.
Please call us with
any questions you might have, we’re always here to help. |
Each of these three
examples contains two complete sentences that could be ended by a period.
They require connection by more than just the comma; you need to use one
of the seven coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) along with the
comma, or the semicolon by itself.
Of course, you can always create two independent sentences if one of the
coordinating conjunctions doesn’t seem to fit.
| Thank you for your business, and we're glad you liked our
product.
We're open until 9 p.m., so please call if you need anything.
Please call us with any questions you might have. We're always
here to help.
OR: Please call us with any questions you might have;
we're always here to help. |
Once again I recommend
having a good grammar text such as The Gregg
Reference Manual at your
fingertips. You can pick one up at
any good bookstore, at Amazon.com, or through my Web site on the Bookstore
page. If you purchase it through my
site, you help defray the cost of the site and this monthly newsletter.
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