Q. I’ve been having a debate with a vendor regarding commas. What is the proper way to punctuate a compound
sentence with an introductory clause that applies to both parts of the sentence? For example, “During
percussion, tympany is a hollow sound over an air-filled structure and dullness is a thud-type sound over a solid structure.”
Most style guides cover the need for a comma after an introductory phrase (unless it is very short and clear) and the need
for a comma between the independent clauses of a compound sentence (unless they are very short and related), but they don’t
provide specific guidance for both elements in one sentence. I have interpreted this omission to mean that the comma should
generally be used in both places, after the introductory phrase and between the independent clauses, but my vendor is insisting
that the comma isn’t needed between the independent clauses because the introductory phrase applies
to both of them.
A. The introductory phrase is not the most important consideration, grammatically. In the sentence you provide, the comma before
and is optional because the clauses are short; the lack of a comma also helps to show that the introductory phrase applies to
both clauses. If your clauses were longer or more complex, however, they would need a comma to separate them even if they
were both governed by the same introductory phrase.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In the following sentence, it would appear that naming Fred as my brother is a nonrestrictive parenthetical: My brother,
Fred, and I teach at the same school. However, these commas could be taken as serial commas (my brother and Fred and I teach
at the same school). Thus, I was taught to write such a sentence as follows: My brother Fred and I teach at the same school.
Which would you consider correct?
Q. Prepositional phrases beginning sentences. No longer followed by a comma?
A. For starters, it isn’t one-rule-fits-all. After a short phrase a comma usually isn’t necessary. After one that’s especially long or whose syntax involves more complex elements, it’s usually a good idea. But as you can see from these sentences, whenever a pause is intended, a comma does the trick. See CMOS 6.31 for more examples.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Your opinion, please, of the comma in this sentence: “The difference, is affiance.”
It is a commercial tagline, so all bets may be off, but one of us has the nagging feeling that there may be a reason for that
comma buried in grammar rules of yore. Another of us wondered if the construction is related to “What
it is, is football.” Both of us hope you can help sort things out.
A. Sorry—I can’t think of a single reason for that comma. In your football sentence,
the comma separates the potentially confusing “is is.” In your tagline, the comma
separates a very simple subject from a very simple predicate, and that has long been verboten by the punctuation police.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Some editors at my office believe the word so should always have a comma after it when it begins a sentence. (“I am a clumsy person. So, I try not
to wear white on days when I will drink coffee.”) I believe so should be treated like and or but; they think it should be treated like thus. Yet they don’t use the comma if the clause is in the second half of a sentence. Is the comma optional,
never allowed, or allowed only in certain situations?
A. So that begins a sentence or clause does not take a comma unless a parenthetical phrase or clause follows, and even then it’s
sometimes optional: So, in light of his threats, I had to hide the chocolate. Sometimes a writer hears a pause after so, and if a writer really wants us to pause, then it’s hard to deny him a comma. But if a pause is that
important, perhaps an ellipsis or dash is called for.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. My editor and I disagree about comma placement in this sentence. I added the comma, but he says it’s
not necessary. Your opinion, please? “The screen design includes functional elements like text-entry
boxes and list boxes, and stylistic elements like graphics and multimedia.” Thanks!
A. Your editor objects because it’s a “rule” not to put a
comma between two elements making up a compound object. The comma is needed in your sentence, however, because your two elements
are themselves compound. Without the comma, the reader is left to navigate some pretty rickety syntax: X includes A like B
and C and D like E and F. Readability trumps the rule, so the comma should stay.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I’ve got a run-in list in which one of the items is a quoted question. The author put the comma after
the closing quotation mark, which looks odd, but so does no comma at all. Any suggestions? The sentence: She can ask herself,
“Why?”, formulate her own response, and see which option it closely matches.
A. Put the comma inside the quotation marks. Although Chicago style doesn’t call for the comma, many of
us here ignore that rule, because it so often seems wrong.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Must a comma always precede the phrase “such as”? If not, what is the rule for when there should be a comma?
A. You need a comma if what follows is nonrestrictive. Our Q&A has devoted much space to this issue; if you type “restrictive” into the search box, you can access the relevant questions and answers.
Restrictive: I love moments such as those. [I don’t love all moments; this tells which moments I do love.]
Unrestrictive: Don’t you love that lucky, jazzy feeling, such as when you meet someone cute or find money in your pocket? [I love that feeling, unrestricted; here are some examples of it.]
(And thanks to questions such as yours, we now treat this specific question in CMOS; see paragraph 6.50 in the seventeenth edition.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. An author of an article I am copyediting asked me to restore the commas I had deleted in the following sentence: “Most
of my nightmares are a process of working out a deeper objectivity about, and unity with, what God would have me do.”
I do not mind the two commas in this sentence, although I prefer it without. However, I know the proofreader will object.
Can you refer me to a rule I can cite to get either the author or the proofreader to back down?
A. Yes. When commas are optional and the author wants them in, even after the copy editor has suggested taking them out, the
copy editor should leave them in. The proofreader doesn’t get to decide. Simply write “stet
commas, per author” in the margin.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have noticed in emails that people who want to be informal begin with “Hi Fred.” I have also seen the salutation as “Hi, Fred.” Since email is an electronic letter, is it OK to simply begin with “Hi Fred,”? The other way seems a bit awkward.
A. This isn’t so much a matter of Chicago style as personal style. Is it OK to treat email as an informal form of communication with relaxed rules and etiquette? It’s probably wise to use the same judgment you use in writing paper letters to people. If you’re writing to a client or your boss, follow the conventions of letter writing. In this case, that means putting a comma before the direct address (Hi, Fred). “Dear Fred” is not the same grammatically, and it takes no comma. (Note also that “Hi, Fred” and “Dear Fred” are not formal forms of address, with or without the comma.)
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]