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Goronsky Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Justifiable Reason to Omit Comma with Common Appositives
Prescriptive grammarians will steadfastly support the two commas in this sentence: My husband, Steven, will be coming with me.
The writer has only one husband whose name is 'Steven'; however, 'Steven' could be construed as a vocative here. To me, the commas around 'Steven' should be eliminated to prevent this potential ambiguity. Agreed?
The same could be said for the following sentence: Coming with me will be my husband, Steven. This sentence should be correctly punctuated (ie the comma omitted before 'Steven') as Coming with me will be my husband Steven.
The only time the commas are required is in a construction akin to this: Steve, my husband, will be coming with me.
Does the reader really care how many wives, sons, daughters etc you have?
Does anyone support my position on all of this?
The writer has only one husband whose name is 'Steven'; however, 'Steven' could be construed as a vocative here. To me, the commas around 'Steven' should be eliminated to prevent this potential ambiguity. Agreed?
The same could be said for the following sentence: Coming with me will be my husband, Steven. This sentence should be correctly punctuated (ie the comma omitted before 'Steven') as Coming with me will be my husband Steven.
The only time the commas are required is in a construction akin to this: Steve, my husband, will be coming with me.
Does the reader really care how many wives, sons, daughters etc you have?
Does anyone support my position on all of this?
Top answer
goronsky Does anyone support my position on all of this? I, Avangi, do.
- goronsky Does anyone support my position on all of this?
- I, Avangi, do.
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2 Answers
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goronskyDoes anyone support my position on all of this?I, Avangi, do.
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I feel like the vocative is "my husband" instead of "Steve", as in "Sir".
I agree with the necessity of the commas put in the last example.
They don't seem so necessary in the first 2 examples.
I feel like the commas discriminate the narrator's goal in plural rather in singular, then putting or omitting the 2 commas is sharp. While here, "my husband" may be considered as a vocative
I agree with the necessity of the commas put in the last example.
They don't seem so necessary in the first 2 examples.
I feel like the commas discriminate the narrator's goal in plural rather in singular, then putting or omitting the 2 commas is sharp. While here, "my husband" may be considered as a vocative
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