ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:24:35 GMT

Check wire.rutgers.edu, where there's a document titled "The Comma: Major Uses and Worst Abuses." Scroll down to No. 4 for the answer to your question. It's very precise and understandable. -- L.

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:53:04 GMT

Or, you could just put a semicolon(e.g. "John predicted the Temple's fall; the tradition is tightly anchored in our sources.").

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:31:44 GMT

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

"I am inclined to agree with Jane to the extent that John predicted the Templeâs 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."

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:07:36 GMT

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.

Re: Comma before because STUPID!

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:46:00 GMT

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.

Re: Punctuation inside the quotation marks

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:51:16 GMT

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.

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 10:37:27 GMT

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.

Re: Comma before because

Mr Patrick — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 22:08:46 GMT

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

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:22:09 GMT

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

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:04:08 GMT

yay.

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:38:20 GMT

wow that nixon thing, it's a GRRREAATTT sentence, it really helped me understand!!! thx

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 18:38:17 GMT

I'm sure your intended recipient is delighted to be assisted in such a charming and generous manner. To the point, one shouldn't 'always include commas and periods inside quotation marks'. That only applies to American English. British English, for one, places punctuation outside the quotation marks (single in the first instance and often called inverted commas or speech marks) unless the punctuation applies to the quoted material.

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 02:07:13 GMT

The worksheets you should be looking for are ones dealing with 'Subordinating Conjunctions' ('because' is a subordinating conjunctions)

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 02:03:14 GMT

Your comment "you often need to think about the contents of your statement" is VERY accurate, and your internet resource has given an excellent example of who people don't think about the contents. The resource has considered the wrong aspect of this sentence. It's these inappropriate examples that cause so much confusion when punctuating. The consideration here is the 'subject' of the sentence.

The reason a comma is not used before "because" is because the subject of this sentence is "I knew", not "President Nixon would resign that morning"

To explain ...

What this sentence is really saying is I knew that 'insert information' because my sister worked in the White House, and she called me with the news. You can clearly see in this case that you would not place a comma before "because." However, in both cases there should be a comma after house as she called me with the news is an independent clause.

The very use of "because" dictates that the following clause will be sub-ordinated in every case, and sub-ordinated clauses are not separated by commas.

I hope I have explained this well enough to clarify your confusion. In short, never use a comma before because*.

**Disclaimer* unless the writer is being 'creative' and knows the rules he/she is breaking

Re: Comma before because

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:33:14 GMT

Maybe you should find a worksheet or some examples that will demonstrate that you should always include commas and periods inside quotation marks.