Comma Chameleon: Help with comma usage needed!
April 24, 2013 6:02 PM Subscribe
How do I correctly use commas in this sentence?
My client sent me an email and wants me to correct the commas in a sentence. I believe their suggestion is grammatically incorrect. The sentence currently reads (and I'm substituting exact details):
Which sentence is correct and why? If you can provide me a link to a web site that backs up your answer, I would appreciate it.
My client sent me an email and wants me to correct the commas in a sentence. I believe their suggestion is grammatically incorrect. The sentence currently reads (and I'm substituting exact details):
Oscar-winning actor Jane Doe, whose prestigious career spans three decades, is coming to New Jersey...He wants me to add a comma in front of the name so it reads:
Oscar-winning actor, Jane Doe, whose prestigious career spans three decades, is coming to New Jersey...I believe the original example is correct because, by adding the extra comma, you're making the sentence directly address Jane Doe.
Which sentence is correct and why? If you can provide me a link to a web site that backs up your answer, I would appreciate it.
The first is unambiguously the correct one.
posted by Perplexity at 6:05 PM on April 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by Perplexity at 6:05 PM on April 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
#1 is correct. The basic sentence is "Jane Doe is coming to New Jersey." "Oscar-winning actor" is an adjectival phrase modifying Jane Doe. "[W]hose prestigious career spans three decades" is a non-essential dependent clause that augments the independent clause "Jane Doe."
posted by spacewrench at 6:08 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by spacewrench at 6:08 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: This NYT link helps explain why you're right. Per the source, you are correct to withhold the comma when the identifier is not unique. When the words “a,” “an” or “some,” or a number, come before the description or identification of a name, use a comma.
posted by mochapickle at 6:16 PM on April 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by mochapickle at 6:16 PM on April 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Best answer: I believe the original example is correct because, by adding the extra comma, you're making the sentence directly address Jane Doe.
Right answer, wrong reason. The distinction you're looking for is essential vs. non-essential descriptors.
posted by RogerB at 6:16 PM on April 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Right answer, wrong reason. The distinction you're looking for is essential vs. non-essential descriptors.
posted by RogerB at 6:16 PM on April 24, 2013 [4 favorites]
Your client is thinking of a different sentence:
Jane Doe, Oscar-winning actor whose prestigious career spans three decades, is coming to New Jersey...
posted by bricoleur at 6:19 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Jane Doe, Oscar-winning actor whose prestigious career spans three decades, is coming to New Jersey...
posted by bricoleur at 6:19 PM on April 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sentence #1 is what you are looking for. Jane Doe's name is an essential element of the sentence; therefore, it cannot be set off by a comma. Essential elements are necessary to the meaning of the sentence.
If you punctuate as in sentence #2, you're turning Jane Doe's name into a non-essential element; if you removed all the non-essential elements set off by commas, it would read
Oscar winning actor is coming to New Jersey.
Which Oscar winning actor? We don't know.
[on preview: what RogerB said]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:22 PM on April 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
If you punctuate as in sentence #2, you're turning Jane Doe's name into a non-essential element; if you removed all the non-essential elements set off by commas, it would read
Oscar winning actor is coming to New Jersey.
Which Oscar winning actor? We don't know.
[on preview: what RogerB said]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:22 PM on April 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
First sentence is correct. For more discussion you can see this FPP where I fucked it up and it spurred a discussion downthread. I have since been reformed. I actually crafted a sentence just today for something at work where this issue came up, and I am proud to say that I made The Right Choice.
No comma.
posted by phunniemee at 6:28 PM on April 24, 2013
No comma.
posted by phunniemee at 6:28 PM on April 24, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for their answers. I knew I was right, but I wasn't sure why and didn't know what grammatical terms to use on Google to find the answer. That NYT link is extremely helpful. I learned something new!
posted by MegoSteve at 6:40 PM on April 24, 2013
posted by MegoSteve at 6:40 PM on April 24, 2013
It may help you to use the word appositives in your search.
posted by Nomyte at 11:08 PM on April 24, 2013
posted by Nomyte at 11:08 PM on April 24, 2013
I think sentence #2 isn't exactly wrong, but it's a good example of superfluous--though not technically incorrect--comma usage. Commas can be tricky things, as their usage sometimes comes down to personal taste, like the first comma in this sentence.
posted by zardoz at 11:32 PM on April 24, 2013
posted by zardoz at 11:32 PM on April 24, 2013
No, seriously, sentence #2 is wrong in formal written English. (Technically incorrect. Not a matter of taste.) If sentence #2 were correct, it would mean that Jane Doe were the only actor in world history who had ever won an Oscar. For reference, here's Wikipedia on apposition and restrictive vs. non-restrictive clauses; another explanation from OWL. More useful search terms for the distinction at work here: restrictive vs. non-restrictive clauses, or defining vs. non-defining ones. Fluent writers most often, and entirely reasonably, do these things by ear rather than explicitly following the quite complex rules, but that doesn't make this a matter of personal taste.
posted by RogerB at 8:28 AM on April 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by RogerB at 8:28 AM on April 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
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technically, either sentence can be correct, I think, but personally:
the original sentence is correct. "Jane Doe" is the subject of the sentence, and "oscar-winning actor" functions as an adjective. if you add the comma, it makes "actor" the subject, which just makes it very clunky.
posted by firei at 6:05 PM on April 24, 2013