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Columns on nonrestrictive commas
“Skydiving
with nonrestrictive commas”
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I did something yesterday I’ve never done before. Not once, but twice. I jumped out of an airplane. I went skydiving, a birthday present from my son.
Sure, it was thrilling to climb out of a Cessna 182 at 3,000 feet into an 80-mile-an-hour wind, hang from the strut, look back at my divemaster, who smiled and pointed her finger at me – and let go, trusting my life to a bag of nylon and a bunch of cords. The serene beauty of the fields and forests surrounding Lake Wissota was breathtaking. And swooping down to the drop zone, pulling down on my toggles at 10 feet to flare the panels, and stepping gently onto the blessed earth was as delicious as the first time I felt the intoxicating balance of a bicycle. All that was grand. But what made the
experience unforgettable was the six-hour training class, expertly taught
by a club member. Of course, the other newbies and I were apprehensive,
but we began to relax while I was hanging in the practice harness
demonstrating the various positions we were to assume if we were about to
hit a tree, building, car, cow, or string of power lines. The drill gave
us a lot of confidence. That's when the instructor said, "Now, if both your main chute and your reserve fail, you’ll gain a maximum velocity of 163 feet per second, or 111 miles per hour, in 9 seconds. At that speed you’ll hit the ground in 22 seconds, which rarely happens." "I'm concerned," said one of my fellow newbies. "Did you use a comma before your clause, 'which rarely happens'? I never learned the rules for using commas." It was an awkward moment. We all felt sorry for the man who asked the question. Naturally, everyone looked at me, perhaps because I was in the harness, or perhaps because they knew who I was from seeing my photo in the newspaper police reports. "Yes," I said, in my most reassuring tone. "Use commas with which clauses that are parenthetical or nonessential, as in ‘My reserve chute deployed perfectly, which was a good thing, since I inadvertently cut and released my main.’ In that sentence, the clause, ‘which was a good thing,’ is nonessential. It could be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence." "Thank you," said the man. "Such a simple rule. I’m embarrassed I didn’t learn it in school. But how can I tell if the clause is essential or nonessential?"
"Simple," I said. "If you can place the clause in parentheses, use commas. If you can’t, don’t." "Would you give us another example?" asked another newbie, who like me was fit and trim. "Sure," I said. "I used a comma before the nonrestrictive who clause in my preceding sentence." "That's right," said the instructor. "Use commas with clauses that are nonessential; omit commas with clauses that are essential." "Exactly," I said, noting her comma-free essential that clauses. Exercise on nonrestrictive commas |
Writing for Business and Pleasure
Copyright by
Stephen Wilbers
www.wilbers.com
First published August 22, 2005
“Can't get over that nonrestrictive comma”
by Stephen Wilbers
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I’ve been thinking about nonrestrictive
commas lately. I just can’t get them off my mind.
Omitting or misusing the nonrestrictive
comma is one of the last major errors many writers eliminate from their
writing. It’s a persistent error, one that lingers even in the text of
otherwise competent writers. I’ve tried teaching writers when to use commas with nonrestrictive clauses. I’ve tried every approach I could think of. Nothing seems to work. So I’m trying something new. I’ve created a PowerPoint presentation explaining the rule, and I’m posting it on my website. Here’s a preview: ■Nonrestrictive clauses are generally introduced by which.
■Restrictive clauses are generally
introduced by that. |
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