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Fire1 Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

The use of commas for essential information

1. Daniel the golfer visited this place yesterday.

2. Daniel, the golfer, visited this place yesterday.

If two Daniels, one of whom is a swimmer and the other is a golfer, visited the place yesterday, should commas dropped to use "the golfer" as essential information and to refer to who the writer is referring to?

I suppose so.

If there was only one Daniel, who visited the place, I think 2 is the only correct sentence.

Am I right?

  

Top answer

fire1 If two Daniels, one of whom is a swimmer and the other is a golfer, visited the place yesterday, should the commas be dropped to use "the golfer" as essential information and to refer to who the writer is referring to? It doesn't quite work exactly like that. You would use the version without commas whether they both visited or not because is is essential information either way, but it still creates a person we call "Daniel the golfer", almost like "Eric the Red", and this is distracting.

— Anonymous

  • fire1 If two Daniels, one of whom is a swimmer and the other is a golfer, visited the place yesterday, should the commas be dropped to use "the golfer" as essential information and to refer to who the writer is referring to?
  • It doesn't quite work exactly like that.
  • You would use the version without commas whether they both visited or not because is is essential information either way, but it still creates a person we call "Daniel the golfer", almost like "Eric the Red", and this is distracting.
  • "
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3 Answers
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fire1If two Daniels, one of whom is a swimmer and the other is a golfer, visited the place yesterday, should the commas be dropped to use "the golfer" as essential information and to refer to who the writer is referring to?

It doesn't quite work exactly like that. You would use the version without commas whether they both visited or not becaus

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The rule does not apply to names. Names are identifiers.
Phrases distinguishing between two things with the same name are offset by commas.

Daniel, the golfer, not the swimmer, visited us yesterday.
We traveled to London, the town in Texas, not the city in England.

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Like anonymous, I'd leave out the commas either way.

CJ

[ answered by request of OP ]

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