ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: comma before 'when'?

Yoong Liat — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:25:26 GMT

Hi Hoa Thai

My full attention was only on whether a comma is needed. I agree with you that 'when' is not appropriate in the sentence.

I agree with Philip that 'after' should have been used instead.

Best wishes.

Re: comma before 'when'?

Philip — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:10:37 GMT

Hoa Thai wrote:
Yoong Liat wrote:
I'd not use a comma.

Hi Yoong Liat,

How did you interpret the clause 'when he killed his girlfriend in a car crash'?

I am troubled with when, particularly the verb kill is in simple past tense, because the whole sentence could mean 'as soon as he killed his girlfriend, he was convicted ...' Even if when is replaced with because, I would rather use had killed instead of killed.

Could you please share your thought?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

I would use 'after' instead of 'when'.

Re: comma before 'when'?

Hoa Thai — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:26:20 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:
I'd not use a comma.

Hi Yoong Liat,

How did you interpret the clause 'when he killed his girlfriend in a car crash'?

I am troubled with when, particularly the verb kill is in simple past tense, because the whole sentence could mean 'as soon as he killed his girlfriend, he was convicted ...' Even if when is replaced with because, I would rather use had killed instead of killed.

Could you please share your thought?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

Re: comma before 'when'?

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:20:21 GMT

But isn't that clause nonessential.

Re: comma before 'when'?

Yoong Liat — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:15:17 GMT

I'd not use a comma.

comma before 'when'?

Futurehuman11 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:50:17 GMT

This lifestyle eventually caught up with the young man with a bright future, and he was convicted of first-degree manslaughter when he killed his girlfriend in a car crash.

Should I use a comma before the bolded 'when'? 'When' isn't essential to the sentence, but I also heard that you should not use a comma when the subordinating conjuction of the dependent clause is not at the beginning of the sentence. HELP!