Comma before because

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Anonymous

#338188 Sun, 11 Mar 07 10:04 PM

yay.

Anonymous

Commas

Anonymous

#394448 Fri, 20 Jul 07 08:22 PM

hahahahaha...that's really, really funny! i was thinking the same thing.

Anonymous

Commas

Mr Patrick

#394476 Fri, 20 Jul 07 11:08 PM

I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this thread, but here's my favourite example.

The New York Times, published April 24, 2007

Factories, though, are incredibly efficient for building homes, according to Kaufmann. At building sites, the remnants from two-by-fours often get tossed out. By building in a factory, these wood stubs can be saved and used in the next home. Dimensions in the homes, in fact, are selected to maximize the efficient use of building materials.

It also takes less time, because electricians and other contractors can work simultaneously, rather than one after another. In all, it takes about six weeks to build a home in a factory and another four to six weeks to ship it to the foundation, bolt it on and tweak everything. In all, the time to complete a house is cut by 30 percent or more.

Evidently, here a comma is required to prevent us form misreading 'also'.

Wrong reading: There are several reaons why it takes less time; one of them is that electricians ...

Correct reading: Building homes in factories has several advantages. One of them is time. The reason for this is that electricians...

Patrick

Mr Patrick

Joined on Thu, Jul 27 2006

Talca, Chile

Junior Member (76)

Commas

Anonymous

#402338 Thu, 09 Aug 07 11:37 AM

The Nixon sentence is from another website. I quote the section in full (Note that a comma IS needed):

Sometimes, though, the "because clause" must be set off with a comma to avoid misreading:

I knew that President Nixon would resign that morning, because my sister-in-law worked in the White House and she called me with the news.

Without that comma, the sentence says that Nixon's resignation was the fault of my sister-in-law. Nixon did not resign because my sister-in-law worked in the White House, so we set off that clause to make the meaning clearly parenthetical.

Anonymous

Clauses, Commas

Anonymous

#426876 Thu, 04 Oct 07 06:51 AM

Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks only in American English. I'm American, so they look great that way; but I'm not sure it would be helpful to teach this in Europe. I normally just tell my students how the British do it.

Anonymous

American English, Commas, Punctuation, Quotation marks

Anonymous

#434526 Thu, 25 Oct 07 05:46 AM

I haven't yet tracked down this STUPID habit of a comma before because, but when I do you can be assured they will pay dearly. I was a professional award-winning journalist for 10 years in the 1990s and never ever did this. I am an award-winning fiction writer and never did it either. Utter trash, esp. to teach it in ESL!! Try reading the sentence ALOUD, a comma demands a slight pause. In every sentence it sounds stupid.

d. brownridge, canada, home of pure english.

Anonymous

Commas

Anonymous

#499826 Sat, 12 Apr 08 08:07 PM

Perhaps this link could help clarify everyone's confusion: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Commas/Commas08.html

It is not accurate that a comma should NEVER be used before because, but as a general rule it may be helpful. It really depends on what age group your trying to teach. Certainly the rule to never use a comma before because is unsatisfatory at the post-graduate level.

Anonymous

Commas

Anonymous

#499834 Sat, 12 Apr 08 08:31 PM

An example of when to use a comma before "because:"

"I am inclined to agree with Jane to the extent that John predicted the Temple’s fall, because the tradition is tightly anchored in our sources."

Here a comma is necessary: if it were absent the implication would be that "John predicted the Temple's fall because the tradition is tightly anchored in our sources."