Hi Anon, I used to put in more commas and agonize over whether or not they were correct. After years of writing i have come to the conclusion that rules often get in the way of good sense. One way i found to test a sentence for comma use is to say

Dear friend, 1. We got a good look at the most extraordinary thing about the animal. Its foreclaws were nearly as long as my fingers. - correct; two independent clauses. We got a good look at the most extraordinary thing about

the second sentence " For you, to win will be almost impossible." means that winning is impossible as far as you are concerned. That well may be true, but it's so ambiguous that it is best reworded to remove the ambiguity. Following

Your impression is on the whole justified, and to this I referred as 'a special stylistic effect' that placing a comma may have. Consider this: - Do I stay any chance of winning? - For you to win will be almost impossible. For him to win

Interesting distinction, Debpriya, although i would point out that the sentence says almost impossible which means that "For you, to win is possible but unlikely." I think you could leave out the comma and the sentence would mean the

There is no need to disrupt the clause with a comma, unless you wish to achieve a special stylistic effect. The meaning is not changed in either case. Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Both are awkward in that they leave us unsure of whether it is the book or the office that is 'yours'. The comma does not help to solve this dilemma, but there should be no comma because the book is defined by the relative clause.

In certain short clauses, commas are probably not necessary (as in Dimsum's last sentence), but certainly where it appears e.g. in a subject noun phrase, it is appositive (not 'parenthetical'), as the verb number is governed by the subject itself:

Is as well as considered a parenthical phrase? Should it be set off with commas? Thanks! My non-linguistic view thinks not. I may be wrong but one of the "as well as" usages has a prepositional property which is typically

Hi again, You´re right. I was refering to sentences like the last two. And I found that you added a ,(comma) in number 3 examples. So if I happen to see sentences like this: "On Saturdays I go to the park", I have to add the comma,