Q. Is it a grave error that I wrote “If I’d had time, alone, with my mother’s body, I might have caressed her face” in lieu of “If I’d had time alone with my mother’s body”? I understand that I felt a pause around the word alone and therefore decided to use the commas. I also realize that the pause doesn’t mean that a comma is necessary. Using the commas around alone seemed to underscore the gravity of the situation, the aloneness of the situation. Will an editor be inclined to throw away my manuscript because of a small error like this?
A. A wayward comma is rarely a “grave error.” A good editor will ask you to clarify your intended meaning and then work with you to get the punctuation right.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have been debating with my copyeditor guidelines concerning commas and dates. We consulted CMOS on the topic but we still differ in opinion. I prefer “In the summer of 1812 General Hagerthy moved his troops” versus “In the summer of 1812, General Hagerthy moved his troops.” “Early in 1946 an opportunity came for my cousin” versus “Early in 1946, an opportunity came for my cousin.” I argue that a comma after the year is not needed. Gurus of style, please opine who is correct.
A. Rejoice: everyone is correct. Higher authorities are not interested in legislating commas to this degree. Peace.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In this sentence, “Inside the Bellevue, Washington, laboratory, where innovations are under way . . .” it seems to me that the comma after Washington distracts from the meaning. Since “Bellevue, Washington” describes “laboratory,” could one omit the comma? Or is that a hard, fast, no-exceptions-ever rule?
A. Although we never promote our guidelines as hard, fast, no-exceptions-ever rules, the second comma is Chicago style as well as standard use outside Chicago. The idea is to treat Washington as parenthetical, which requires a pair of commas.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. How do you determine if it is “In the 1970s bad things happened” or “In the 1970s, bad things happened”? Comma or no comma? Why?
A. You can determine it by consulting a style manual like CMOS. You can go to the table of contents and look for the chapter on punctuation (chapter 6), then scan down the list of topics until you find a section on commas. Within that section you can look for the paragraph that addresses your issue: 6.31, “Commas with adverbial phrases.” There you can read that “although an introductory adverbial phrase can usually be followed by a comma, it need not be unless misreading is likely. Shorter adverbial phrases are less likely to merit a comma than longer ones.” You can decide that your phrase does not need to be set off by a comma. Why? Because misreading without the comma is unlikely.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hi, I have a simple comma question. Here’s the sentence:
Readers will understand that he is subject to the expectation that he must be the sole financial provider for his family, and that he is hesitant to get married because he is unemployed and without prospects.
I think the comma is unnecessary, since “that he is hesitant to get married because he is unemployed and without prospects” is not really an independent clause. Plus, it seems clear and readable enough without it. But it was pointed out to me that “he is hesitant to get married because he is unemployed and without prospects” is an independent clause, so there should be a comma. What do you say?
A. All dependent clauses contain an independent one; your critic is throwing you a red herring. When you stick that in front of a clause, it suddenly has to depend on another clause to make grammatical sense—that’s why we call it “dependent.” I agree with your analysis about the comma, but it’s not wrong to add a comma in such a long sentence in order to give the reader a breather. Sometimes, however, that need for a breather hints that a sentence could be improved by rewriting.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Does the following sentence require a comma after says? The person who says “I no longer get anything out of reading” has stopped running up against questions to think about as he or she reads.
A. Commas commonly appear before quotation marks—for instance, there is a strong convention of using a comma after expressions like “He said” or “She asked.” There may be a widespread belief that the comma is required before a quotation, although there isn’t necessarily a grammatical reason for one. If a quotation is short or if a comma would interrupt needlessly, you probably don’t need one. In your sentence, the quoted material is a direct object within a dependent clause; a comma would do little to help clarify that.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hi, Chicago—I’m replying to your email answer more than seven years later because I’m still trying to wrap my head around punctuating sentences like these:
She was still so shocked, it took her a while to find her voice.
He was so fixated on his game, he had no idea I’d entered the room.
Do they require the comma? Based on your seven-year-old email reply (“I don’t know of any such rule”), I’ve been deleting most such commas. Occasionally, I’ll replace the comma with a semicolon. But I guess what I’d like to know now is this: Is there any rule (preferably somewhere I can cite) that governs this type of sentence?
A. I’m happy to report that after seven years of intensive focus on your question, the CMOS team has still not encountered a rule for this. Please note that when it’s this hard to find a rule, it’s likely that nobody knows one or cares. We hope this helps you move on. If not, please write again in 2020.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. All of this plus installation, at no cost to you. Is the comma necessary here? I think it is added sometimes to denote “and,” but then maybe an em dash would achieve greater dramatic pause or surprise.
A. The comma makes a difference. As you have it, with the comma, it seems to mean that for no cost you get “all of this and installation.” Without a comma, the meaning might be taken as “All of this [for a price]—plus installation at no cost.” Rather than depend on a comma, rewrite for clarity.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In the following sentence, is a comma required (or even recommended) before “and her ten-year-old son”? “She is especially distraught when her preteen daughter, Pam, rebels by befriending a navel-pierced neighbor and her ten-year-old son, Joe, betrays her by making contact with the father.” I see this clause as being introduced by the same when that introduced the clause before it, and I would opt for no comma. Since the sentence is long, would it be acceptable to repeat the word when before the other clause? (“She is especially distraught when her preteen daughter, Pam, rebels by befriending a navel-pierced neighbor and when her ten-year-old son, Joe, betrays her by making contact with the father.”)
A. Adding when is a fine strategy, but there’s nothing wrong with using a comma. Something must be done: otherwise, readers may assume that Pam befriends the neighbor and the neighbor’s son, and we stumble when the son turns out to have a different verb (and a different mom). While it might be technically correct to omit a comma between compound objects, it’s usually not correct to ambush the reader, and it’s always correct to use a comma to untangle a long and misleading sentence.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I work for a company that says they’re focused on building client relationships. However, they insist when we address an email to one of our own clients whom we know well that we put a comma in hi, hello, or good morning, Joe. I have been told that this is a very formal way of addressing someone. Help!
A. The comma in a greeting of direct address is not very formal; it’s been the standard form for a very long time in all kinds of correspondence. Omitting the comma, on the other hand, is casual, and you never know which readers (especially anyone over forty) might consider it an error. Of course everyone understands that email is not a formal means of communication, but depending on the kind of business you are in, you might want your email to reflect a certain level of professionalism. If so, the comma is a good idea.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]