I have English as a second language, and the way comma is used differ a bit from my own language. In sentences such as this, for example, it wouldn't be common to use a comma after the word «cider». Can you explain why the comma should be there?
«Chris, being a complete lush, continued drinking expired cider, even after getting sick all over his shirt.»
Last edited by Fenster; 06-05-2013 at 05:49 PM.
There's no need for the comma in this example. That's the simple answer.
H
The use of the comma in this instance is to indicate that there two separate actions within the sentence i.e. drinking and getting sick, but since the one is obviously contingent on the other, the comma is superfluous.Originally Posted by Fenster
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
The appropriate uses of commas and other punctuation, culled from Strunk and White as well as other sources, can be found by clicking this punctuation guide.
The rules governing the use of the comma are quite complicated. People think apostrophes are difficult to get right, but commas are much more difficult. Personally, I think the American rules for comma placement make more sense than the British rules, because British grammar books tend to insist that there are only four types of comma: joining, gapping, listing, and bracketing commas. However, there are so many types of bracketing comma that that rule is basically nonsense. Most American guides I have read list about a dozen types of comma usage. Another complication is that commas are often optional. A comma is mandatory if it alters the meaning of the sentence if it is not there. Otherwise, stylistically it is often thought better to leave them out. Yet another complication is that because so few people know what semicolons and colons are for, commas are often used instead incorrectly, because to write a semicolon might look pretentious. The example in the OP is a bracketing comma. You can tell that because you cam move the phrase between those commas to another position and the sentence still makes sense, e.g.:
Chris continued drinking cider, being a complete lush, even after getting sick over his shirt.
Actually, in the OP example, it is the phrase "being a complete lush" that is bracketed in commas. The phrase: "being a complete lush" is a minor interruption. It could be deleted and the sentence would still make sense.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
Here's an example not taught in school"
"Next to a beautiful woman sleep is the most wonderful thing in the world."
I'd say a comma after "woman" is mandatory.
I was taught not to use a comma before adverbs or conjunctions as a general rule. As it is always the case with English language, there are exceptions to this rule, of course.
In this example, I don't think a comma is needed after "cider".For this purpose, I would use a dash instead of comma:
"Chris, being a complete lush, continued drinking expired cider - even after getting sick all over his shirt."
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
They seem to be so complicated!!
Just use 'em. I never worry about them, they're just little markers that say, "Hold up here a second, just a second. Don't stop. That's the period's job. Mine is to tell you to pause, take a breath, punctuate the sentence."
If ya need a break, take a break, and leave the rules up to the illuminati.
Scheherazade has a point, about the cider thing. Some words have natural stops built in, by sound or meaning. But a comma is stronger than that, more of an obvious pause. It not so much a rule as an aspect of a spoken form of speech, the pause. It separates, and adds emphasis, and influences rhythm. These can be used in combination. It's a handy thing for just a curve of ink.
Why, it's not even as important as a letter. Or is it?
Last edited by Steven Hunley; 06-07-2013 at 01:25 AM.
And see how the meaning really does change by moving "sleep" to the beginning, with and without commas:
Sleep, next to a beautiful woman, is the most wonderful thing in the world
and
Sleep next to a beautiful woman is the most wonderful thing in the world
although it is probably more wonderful when you're awake.
Your first version without the comma sounds awkward, almost ungrammatical.
Last edited by Nick Capozzoli; 06-07-2013 at 01:58 AM. Reason: addendum
Come to think of it, the sentence seems to get a slightly different meaning with the last comma. With the comma, "Continued drinking expired cider" gets closer linked to "being a complete lush"... What would one call the last seven words? A dependent clause?
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