Hi,
I recently wrote a paper for a class and was told that several of my commas were in error. I offset some prepositional phrases with commas and was told that this is incorrect. I am pretty sure I do this often, but I have never before had a teacher tell me it is wrong. One of the teacher's rules of commas is to set off unessential elements, but apparently there is an exception if the element is a prepositional phrase?
Here are my sentences:
Though the study is not large, with results that can be generalized, it provides a successful framework that could be used by other pharmacies to develop similar programs. I wouldn't say the first comma is wrong, but I'd consider omitting it if you use that wording. Really, I'd prefer to reword the sentence as Though the study is not large and does not have results that can be generalized, . . .
You need the second comma, of course.
Like the research articles, the next two sections, on tools for advancing pharmacy practice and experience, are intended to provide information to pharmacists. Here, I'd just say that the commas are optional. They make the reader pause before and after the phrase, and thus cause him to reflect on it a bit more. In other words, they add a bit of emphasis to the phrase in my opinion.
You may already be aware that, in modern English, there is a trend to use fewer commas, as they are sometimes felt to add unnecessary clutter. eg The red commas here could be omitted. However, your approach does not seem wrong to me
Best wishes, Clive