comma, because

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Teo

#192410 Sat, 04 Feb 06 01:36 AM

1. Boy's bullying has always attracted attention, because it is crudely obvious.

2. The percentage or letter-marking system is better than the pass/fail system, because marks motivate students to work harder.

Can I omit the comma before because in the above sentences?

Teo

Joined on Tue, Sep 28 2004

Taiwan

Contributing Member (1,614)

Thank you very much for your reply.

Commas

CalifJim

#192411 Sat, 04 Feb 06 02:02 AM

Yes, you can omit the commas.

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,003)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Commas

Teo

#203016 Sat, 04 Mar 06 04:37 AM

1. Boy's bullying has always attracted attention. Because it is crudely obvious. [Replace the full stop with a comma.]

2. The percentage or letter-marking system is better than the pass/fail system. Because marks motivate students to work harder. [Omit the full stop or replace it with a comma.]

The above sentences are quoted from An introduction to English Grammar, written by Sidney Greenbaum.

It seems that the comma is optional in #2 but obligatory in #1. Is that right?

By the way, An introduction to English Grammar was written for British students. Perhaps there is a difference in the usage of commas betwen AE and BE.

Teo

Grammar, Commas, English grammar

Anonymous

#203133 Sat, 04 Mar 06 04:16 PM

Hi Teo,

I've looked through 'comma' section in Simon and Schuster 'Handbook for Writers' and found out the following:

First of all, your sentences have two parts, which are 'Independent sentence' and 'dependent clause'. For example,

Boy's bullying has always attracted attention because it is crudely obvious.
(Independent Sentence)                                       (Dependent Clause)

Dependent clauses are usually started with (because, when, although, if, etc...)

I belive, whenever you combine these two (independent and dependent) in the following order you don't need comma.

Independent + dependent

Boy's bullying has always attracted attention because it is crudely obvious.
(Independant Sentence)                                       (Dependent Clause)

I belive, whenever you combine these two (independent and dependent) in the following order you will need comma.

Dependent + Independent

Because it is crudely obvious, boy's bullying has always attracted attention
   (Dependent Clause)                (Independent Sentence)

Response to your previous message, I belive, you can never use Dependent clause without Independent sentence. If you put 'period' in between, the period will create two sentences, and 'indepent clause' will becomes meaningless.

I try my best to make my explaination clear.

Comments are welcome.
Louis

Anonymous

Clauses, Commas

MrPedantic

#203144 Sat, 04 Mar 06 04:33 PM

I wouldn't myself call either sentence incorrect, if the comma were omitted; but I would myself use one before "because" in each case.

(I find that among BrE writers, comma usage is quite varied. The usual tendency is to omit them where they're needed, and insert the ones you save thereby in wholly unnecessary places.)

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (12,055)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Commas

CalifJim

#203158 Sat, 04 Mar 06 05:16 PM

Nine times out of ten I find myself following the practices outlined by Louis.
But a comma before a because-clause seems correct to me when I want to show that the information in that clause is somewhat less connected to the main clause in terms of logic, i.e., when I want a sort of "by the way, this is because ..." feeling.

CJ