Omission of Commas?

Question

Does a reader really give a hoot whether a person has one brother, more than one sister, etc. when we write a sentence (with minimal punctuation) like this? Can we forgo the 'restrictive'/'nonrestrictive' thing in these?

My husband Antonio, my sister Francesca, and my brother Dominick will be visiting Italy this summer.

Can we leave out the comma before the sentence-ending names in these, too?

I'll have to ask my wife Martha.

Direct your correspondence to my husband Gary.

TY

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

victo Can we forgo the 'restrictive'/'nonrestrictive' thing in these? My husband Antonio, my sister Francesca, and my brother Dominick will be visiting Italy this summer.

Actually, that is standard procedure in many style manuals.

victoCan we leave out the comma before the sentence-ending names in these, too? I'll have to ask my wife Martha.Direct your correspondence to my husband Gary.

That situation is the same.

Victo · Answer

Which style manuals support this?

Mister Micawber · Answer

Oh, I don't know.  I've seen it written up in various places.

Mister Micawber · Answer

PS:  Quirk et al mention it in passing as 'defining relationships'.

Anonymous · Answer

victoDoes a reader really give a hoot whether a person has one brother, more than one sister, etc. when we write a sentence (with minimal punctuation) like this? Can we forgo the 'restrictive'/'nonrestrictive' thing in these? My husband Antonio, my sister Francesca, and my brother Dominick will be visiting Italy this summer. Can we leave out the comma before the sentence-ending names in these, too? I'll have to ask my wife Martha.Direct your correspondence to my husband Gary. TY

Here's a passage from an online source that talk about appositive that may help answer some of your question:

"Sometimes the appositive and the word it identifies are so closely related that the comma can be omitted, as in "His wife Eleanor suddenly decided to open her own business." We could argue that the name "Eleanor" is not essential to the meaning of the sentence (assuming he has only one wife), and that would suggest that we can put commas both before and after the name (and that would, indeed, be correct). But "his wife" and "Eleanor" are so close that we can regard the entire phrase as one unit and leave out the commas. With the phrase turned around, however, we have a more definite parenthetical element and the commas are necessary: "Eleanor, his wife, suddenly decided to open her own business." Consider, also, the difference between "College President Ira Rubenzahl voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which we need the name "Ira Rubenzahl" or the sentence doesn't make sense) and "Ira Rubenzahl, the college president, voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which the sentence makes sense without his title, the appositive, and we treat the appositive as a parenthetical element, with a pair of commas)."

-Capital Community College

Victo · Answer

Yeah, they're closely related appositives representing a unit. Why bother with commas before the names? They impede sentence flow and overall cadence and continuity.

Victo · Answer

Who in the blue moon is 'Quirk'?

Victo · Answer

A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language by Randolph Quirk? It costs a hundred and forty-six bucks. Must be one of those grammar books on steroids, I would guess.

Omission of Commas?

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