Postmodernbliss Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Commas and clauses, etc.
Hello,
I have been very troubled as of late with commas usage. Specifically, it seems as if I am finding a lot of written text nowadays that contains commas to denote what I assume to be relative clauses. I have a question about the two following sentences I recently wrote:
One such event occurred during my first year of medical school, when my father passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack.
I have been particulary interested in the symbiotic relationship that exists between organs, and its impact on a patient's diagnosis.
In regard to the first sentence, I put a comma before 'when ' because it seemed to be a non-relative clause that defined the preceding part of the sentence. Is that correct?
In regard to the second sentence, I put a comma before 'and' because it seems to be a non-relative clause as well. However, I was taught that 'and' is only used with a comma to create an independent clause. Yet, I see tons of written examples nowadays where this rule is not applied. In addition, I am confused about distinguishing between a compound subject compliment / object and commas (e.g. The government needs to reduce taxes on the working-class and raise taxes on individuals who are wealthy. - should there be a comma here somewhere? If so , why?
Last question, what is the difference between a phrase and clause?
Many,many thanks in advance for whoever answers this post.
I have been very troubled as of late with commas usage. Specifically, it seems as if I am finding a lot of written text nowadays that contains commas to denote what I assume to be relative clauses. I have a question about the two following sentences I recently wrote:
One such event occurred during my first year of medical school, when my father passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack.
I have been particulary interested in the symbiotic relationship that exists between organs, and its impact on a patient's diagnosis.
In regard to the first sentence, I put a comma before 'when ' because it seemed to be a non-relative clause that defined the preceding part of the sentence. Is that correct?
In regard to the second sentence, I put a comma before 'and' because it seems to be a non-relative clause as well. However, I was taught that 'and' is only used with a comma to create an independent clause. Yet, I see tons of written examples nowadays where this rule is not applied. In addition, I am confused about distinguishing between a compound subject compliment / object and commas (e.g. The government needs to reduce taxes on the working-class and raise taxes on individuals who are wealthy. - should there be a comma here somewhere? If so , why?
Last question, what is the difference between a phrase and clause?
Many,many thanks in advance for whoever answers this post.
Top answer
In regard to the first sentence, I put a comma before 'when ' because it seemed to be a non-relative clause that defined the preceding part of the sentence. -- The comma is correct, but your reasoning is not. Commas are used set off information which is not defining, which is extra information.
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In regard to the first sentence, I put a comma before 'when ' because it seemed to be a non-relative clause that defined the preceding part of the sentence. Is that correct?-- The comma is correct, but your reasoning is not. Commas are used set off information which is not defining, which is extra information. The clause ('when my father...attack') is a subordinate clause.
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