294. Parentheses

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The wording between two brackets or equivalent is very variable in its grammatical form

THE NATURE OF PARENTHESES

To some people, a parenthesis is two brackets, or the words between them, or both of these together. To others, it could also be a pair of dashes or commas, or the words between them, or both. The only type of paired punctuation that nobody associates with a parenthesis is quotation marks “ … ”.

The word parenthesis is of Greek origin, like various other names of punctuation marks (comma, period, colon, hyphen: see 223. Uses of Hyphens). Its origin is evidenced by its inclusion of two Greek prefixes (par- and -en-), its spelling with “th”, and its borrowed Greek plural ending -es (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). Literally, it means “placement” (-thesis) “beside” (par-) “and within” (-en-).

This post looks in detail at the grammatical form that the wording within a parenthesis can take, and it attempts to identify at least some differences between the three above-mentioned types of parenthesis marker. Part of this information is also given in other Guinlist posts, but many points are new, as is the overall perspective.

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GRAMMATICAL FORMS OF PARENTHETICAL WORDING

Parentheses range in length from a single word to a fully-formed sentence or more.

1. Single Words

Single-word parentheses may be a noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb or verb. Consider how each of these might occupy the space in the following:

(a) Those involved, …, expressed their support.

One set of possibilities might be:

NOUN: trainees
PRONOUN: everyone
ADJECTIVE: exhausted
ADVERB: surprisingly
VERB: note

Parenthetical nouns, like trainees, give extra information about a noun or noun equivalent immediately before them, the two together forming an “apposition” construction (see 77. Pairing of Same-Meaning Nouns). Pronouns, like everyone, act similarly.

Parenthetical adjectives, like exhausted, very often describe the subject of a verb – those present in (a). They may be positioned either after it between two commas, as illustrated, or before it at the start of the sentence, between a full stop and a comma (see 283. Lesser-Known Features of Adjectives, #2).

Parenthetical adverbs, like surprisingly, tend to say something about their entire sentence rather than any particular part within it. Like parenthetical adjectives, they often start their sentence. Surprisingly illustrates a common type that expresses the writer’s own emotion about the information in the sentence. Others may indicate the nature of the sentence message (e.g. briefly), or show how it links logically with a preceding sentence message (e.g. consequently). For details of these and other types, see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs.

Lone parenthetical verbs, such as note, may similarly be in the “imperative” form. There are relatively few common ones, other examples being notice, observe, remember, recall and say (see 128. Imperative verbs in Formal Writing, #3). Another likely verb form is the participle, for example devastated or cheering in (a). Like parenthetical adjectives and adverbs, parenthetical participles often start their sentence (see 75. How to Avoid “Dangling” Participles).

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2. Multiple Words

Multi-word parentheses can be divided into two main kinds: able and not able to stand alone as an independent sentence. Examples are:

(b) Carbon dioxide is not the strongest “greenhouse” gas (methane is much stronger), but it contributes greatly to global warming.

(c) Whereabouts, could you tell me, is the library?

The sentence-like nature of the first parenthesis here is obvious. The second is not a possible independent sentence because it contains a verb (tell) that always needs an object (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors) but it does not contain an object. The object is, in fact, the rest of the sentence, the part outside the parenthesis. In formal writing, this kind of parenthesis often names a reported or quoted source:

(d) Human brains will never, Lee argues, be completely replaceable by machines.

There are various other ways in which a multi-word parenthesis can be less than a possible independent sentence. Most simply, it can be just a longer version of one of the word types listed above. Nouns and pronouns can be given various types of descriptive wording, or follow an apposition indicator like e.g., i.e., or, namely or in other words (see 286. Repeating in Different Words, #4). Adjectives and adverbs can similarly be added to in various ways (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much and 203. Expanding an Adjective with Words after it), and they are also replaceable by a preposition phrase (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). Imperative verbs can be an auxiliary, e.g. be warned.

Parentheses that are neither an expanded single word nor a possible full sentence tend to include a verb. As well as the kind illustrated above in (c) and (d), there is a particularly common one where the verb and its subject are introduced by a conjunction, such as and, as, because or although. After albeit, the verb is often left unsaid (see 191. Exotic Grammar Structures 3, #1). Many conjunction-verb combinations form an adverb-like part of the overall sentence (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #7), but a few like and, but, so and or create an addition more like an independent sentence.

Not all combinations of a conjunction and verb are visibly separated from the rest of their sentence so that they can be considered parentheses, but very many are. Those without such separation tend to form the second half of their sentence (see “Comma Use 2” in 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places).

The conjunction as is especially common in parentheses, typically helping to name the source of something said in the main part of the sentence. Very often, the source is visual, in the form of a graph, chart, map or diagram (see 104. Naming Data Sources with “as”):

(e) As indicated in Table 2, the trend has recently been upward.

As can also help to name an external written source, often suggesting the writer’s agreement (see 183. Statements between Commas, #3). It could, indeed, be added to sentence (d) above, before Lee.

The relative pronouns who, whom, which etc. are another group of words that prevent a parenthetical subject + verb from being like an independent sentence:

(f) Homer, who is said to have composed the Odyssey, may not have existed.

Like conjunctions, relative pronouns only sometimes make a parenthesis. They do so when they help to give “non-defining” rather than “defining” information (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas).

Another way of including a secondary verb in a sentence is by putting it into the to (infinitive) form. Again, this is not always possible: the infinitive must, like relative pronouns, be of the “non-defining” kind (see 289. Exotic Grammar Structures 8, #3):

(g) Today’s need, to reduce pollution, requires urgent attention.

Participles with -ing, yet another form that cannot be the main verb in a sentence, make a multi-word parenthesis when they start a sentence along with an object or complement (see 75. How to Avoid “Dangling Participles).

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PUNCTUATION OF PARENTHESES

The three types of punctuation that can show a parenthesis – brackets, commas and dashes – differ from each other in various subtle ways. Form-wise, comma parentheses are the only type that cannot usually surround a possible complete sentence, but they are the most able to start a sentence (a full stop replacing the first comma). Brackets are the only type that always come in twos. If a bracketed parenthesis ends a sentence, both brackets must be present along with a full stop after them. A comma or dash parenthesis in this position, by contrast, can replace the second comma or dash with the full stop.

A major reason for using brackets rather than commas or dashes seems to be to mark the information within them as slightly external to what is being said, rather than wholly integral to it. It is information that is relevant but not totally so, what is sometimes called an “aside”. One kind of semi-relevant information that might call for brackets is reminders: mentions of information that the addressee is suspected of knowing already. It would probably exist in sentence (g) above if the parenthetical information there (to reduce pollution) was enclosed in brackets rather than commas.

Other kinds of semi-relevant information are illustrated in the following:

(h) The real hard work (interviewing the candidates) follows.

(i) Data-inputting (a rather uninspiring form of employment) is a vital need in modern business.

The parenthesis in (h) indicates which is meant of various possibilities implied by a preceding general idea; that in (i) expresses a personal judgement within a context of factual description.

Another common use of brackets – widespread in this blog – refers readers to another part of the same text, or to another text altogether. Bracketed references to somewhere in the same text are usually written after the information taken from it. They may simply name or describe the relevant location (Graph 2, chapter 3, etc.), or they may include an imperative verb like see… or compare… (see 128. Imperative Verbs in Formal Writing, #4) or an abbreviation like cf. or cp. (see 130. Formal Abbreviations).

Bracketed references to a different text may also follow information taken from it, but they commonly give the original author’s surname and publication date, perhaps with a page number. They can also go before the transported information, with the author’s surname written before rather than inside the brackets (see 76. Tenses of Citation Verbs).

Dashes tend to give greater importance to the information between them. For example, used instead of the commas in sentence (g) they would elevate the importance in their sentence of the words to reduce pollution. Dashes are also useful when a list introduced by a possible independent sentence needs to be followed by more of the sentence:

(j) There are two national languages in Canada – French and English – each with equal status.

Without added words after a list, such as those after French and English here, there needs to be a full stop instead of a dash, and the earlier dash must become a colon or comma (see the end of 55. Sentence Lists 2, #2). Even with added words present, two dashes are actually replaceable by two commas or even two brackets, though these would convert the list into a secondary point (subsidiary to equal status above), instead of making it part of the primary one.

Finally, the existence of more than one way to show a parenthesis makes it easier to present two consecutive parentheses:

(k) The upward demand trend – see graph (b) – justifies recent investment.

Here, the dashes mark see graph (b) as a parenthesis within the main sentence, and the brackets mark b inside this parenthesis as a further one. Using brackets for both parentheses could make it harder to differentiate them.

223. Uses of Hyphens

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English uses hyphens in four main situations, each of which can cause problems

THE PROBLEM WITH HYPHENS

A hyphen (–) is a punctuation mark that shows togetherness of words or word parts, as in top-ranking. The spelling with “ph” indicates that the name comes from Greek, where hyph-en literally means “under one”, i.e. “unitary” or “together” (see 90. The Greek Impact on English Vocabulary). Hyphens look like dashes – indeed one respected grammar book says that they are “a form of dash”[i]. However, dashes have very different uses (see 294. Parentheses), and computer writing tools like Microsoft Word make them visibly longer than hyphens.

English has numerous hyphen-containing (“hyphenated”) words. The problem is that there is no single rule indicating when or when not to use a hyphen. Instead, different rules have to be listed, and some are quite complicated. The inevitable result is that hyphens are sometimes used or not used wrongly, even by writers whose mother tongue is English. In this post I wish to look in detail at hyphen rules in English and to highlight some common errors to avoid. The approach is similar to that in 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places and 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings.

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LIST OF USES

Hyphens go in four main places: words split between lines of text, some compound words, some words with a prefix or suffix, and word groups acting together like an adjective before a noun.

1. Words Split between Lines

Most people know about this use of hyphens. However, it is also an area where incorrect usage is very common, especially among writers whose mother tongue is not English. The problem is not usually whether to hyphenate a word but where. There are two key rules: word breaks (and hence hyphens) may only be between syllables, and they should not be located before or after just one letter of their word, and often two as well.

One consequence of this rule is that not all syllable divisions can be used for splitting a word, those before or after just one or two letters being excluded. Thus, a split between different lines is unnatural or undesirable with words like o·ther, re·fer, to·ma·to and emp·ty (syllable breaks marked by ·). Such words are normally better written in full at the start of the new line.

Another consequence is that writers must be able to recognise syllable divisions. They must know, for example, that the first syllable of complain, after which the word can be broken at the end of a line, is not *comp- but com- . The surest way to discover the right syllable division is through a dictionary (most dictionaries show this along with a word’s pronunciation). However, there are a few rules that might help.

The most fundamental rule is that written syllables nearly always have a single clearly-spoken vowel (see 125. Stress and Emphasis, second section). Therefore, a group of consonants without a vowel is not a separate syllable: a word like strengths has only one syllable, ruling out divisions like streng- and -ths. Moreover, written vowels that are not separately spoken, such as “a” in repeats, do not make a separate syllable, and hence cannot be in their own word division: repe-ats is impossible.

Perhaps the greatest problem in deciding syllable divisions arises when there are two consonants between two spoken vowels, as in brother, stamping, accommodation, proclaim and plastic. There is not always a clear solution, but some rules can help.

Bro·ther, not *brot·her, is obviously correct because the “th” is a single sound (see 155. Silent Consonants). Stamp·ing is right rather than stam·ping because -ing is a recognizable unit, a common suffix (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes). Accom·modation is divided as shown because double consonants are nearly always split in the middle. The way pro·claim is divided reflects the unitary nature of pro-, a preposition in the ancient European language Latin. Knowledge of Latin prepositions and verbs is not actually so difficult to acquire because English is full of them (see 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling). Plas·tic, on the other hand, illustrates the numerous words that are harder to judge.

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2. Compound Words

Some words can be divided into meaningful parts. If at least two of these parts are able in other contexts to be used by themselves, their combined use is likely to be a “compound”. An example is household (house + hold). On the other hand, if only one of the parts can make a word by itself, there is usually no compound. This is the case, for example, with strongest, where strong- can stand alone but -est cannot.

Some compounds have a hyphen between their meaningful parts, but many, like household, do not. Examples with hyphens are:

VERBS

speed-read, fast-forward, fine-tune

NOUNS

father-in-law, pie-chart, safe-deposit, tell-tale, world-beater

ADJECTIVES

high-grade, time-lapse, wishy-washy, sky-high, left-hand, mind-blowing, ever-present (see 272. Uses of “Ever”, #1), yellow-green (see 278. Colours, #6).

There do not appear to be many definite rules about when and when not to include a hyphen within a compound word. It is noticeable, however, that some words inside a hyphenated compound are also commonly used separately with different grammatical properties. For example, the verb fast-track matches the noun fast track, the noun tell-tale matches the verb expression tell tales (= betray secrets), and the noun a mix-up matches the phrasal verb mix up (though many compound nouns made from a phrasal verb lack a hyphen– see 249. Action Noun Endings).

Uncertainty about the need for a hyphen with frequently-occurring word combinations is made worse by the fact that English has many such combinations that, for no apparent reason, have to be written as separate words rather than as a compound. Examples are town hall, wish list, time travel and water cooler. The absence of hyphenation in water cooler is particularly surprising given its presence in such similar combinations as world-beater.

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3. Words with a Prefix or Suffix

The problem with prefixes and suffixes is again that the need for a hyphen is not always predictable. Ex- and non-, for example, are prefixes that always precede a hyphen (ex-manager, non-conformist), while un and dis never or rarely do (unusual, displeased). Trans-America versus transcontinental and mid-July versus midday illustrate variable usages.

Similarly, the suffixes in useful and happiness typically lack a hyphen, while those in cost-wise and child-like usually need one. For more prefix examples, see 146. Some Important Prefix Types; for more suffix ones, see 106. Word-Like Suffixes.

Again, a limited number of useful generalizations can be made. Prefixes ending in a vowel usually need a hyphen before another vowel, e.g. pre-existing, pre-industrial, re-evaluate, pro-active. Pseudo-prefixes (not preceding a possible English word, like super- in supervise – see 146. Some Important Prefix Types) never have a hyphen, while other prefixes, like super- in supernatural and super-heated, sometimes do. Trans- and mid- are hyphenated only before proper nouns (trans-Europe, trans-Himalaya, mid-Atlantic).

Suffixes that do not resemble independent words – as in going, called, discovery and lighten – never need a hyphen. Word-like suffixes seem to need one in about 50% of cases: other hyphenated examples are accident-prone, camera-shy and butter-rich. Non-hyphenated examples are workshy, advisable, fearsome and praiseworthy.

 

4. Multi-Word Descriptions of a Following Noun

Hyphenation often occurs between two or more words that together describe a noun after them. The words vary in their grammatical type, common combinations being:

A. Adjective + noun (six-page, low-carbon, spare-time)
B. Adjective + -ing (sour-tasting, good-looking)
C. Noun + -ing (house-hunting, leaf-eating, mind-blowing)
D. Adverb + -ing or -ed (fast-flowing, easily-recognised, well-known)
E. Preposition + noun (in-form, out-of-order, up-to-date)
F. Phrasal verb + -ed + phrasal-verb adverb (mixed-up, pressed-down, hemmed-in)
G. Noun + opposite or sequence noun (love-hate, subject-verb)
H. Noun + adjective (olive-green, sugar-free, garden-fresh)

Combination A does not include all adjective-noun uses before another noun. A hyphen tends to be necessitated by particular kinds of starting adjective, or by a need to clarify overall meaning. The starting adjective kinds that usually necessitate a hyphen include:

A1. Number words (six-page, four-star, hundred-year – see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #4)
A2. Number words with -th (fourth-century, tenth-floor)
A3. Adjectives before a noun with -ed (red-blooded, bald-headed, many-sided – see 291. Subtleties of “-ed”, #7).

An exceptional non-hyphen use in category A1 is between number words and percent, e.g. a six percent increase (see 201. Words with Complicated Grammar 1, #2).

Unclear meaning can arise with adjective-noun descriptions of another noun because the adjective does not have to describe the noun directly after it – it can describe the second noun instead. For example, in important customer accounts, important could be describing either customers or accounts (see 124. Structures with a Double Meaning 1, #6). A hyphen after the adjective is an optional way of clearly linking the adjective with the first rather than second noun (important-customer accounts).

Combination B is quite rare because the participle is usually formed from the small number of verbs that need an adjective complement (for a list, see 220. Features of Complements, #2).

In combination C, the noun before an -ing verb is grammatically its object. There are two subtypes:

C1. Also usable without a hyphen as an ordinary noun phrase (e.g. House hunting is…). Other examples are note-making and water-skiing.

C2. Only usable as an adjective. For example, *Mind blowing is… would be unlikely. Other examples are fun-loving, leaf-eating and time-consuming.

It is likely that C1 expressions are gerunds (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”), so that with a following noun they resemble nouns used like adjectives. The C2 kind are more like adjectives than participles (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending, #8). For numerous additional C-type examples, see the end of 320. Special Participle Uses, #2.

Combination G is fairly infrequent. Other common “opposite” pairs like love-hate are stop-start and on-off. A “sequence” noun is one that works with another to express a real-world sequence, as in subject-verb agreement or number-letter combinations.

For more examples like olive-green in H, see 278. Colours, #8.

Combinations A1, A2 and G above can only go before a noun. The others can occupy other adjective positions. Most drop their hyphen there (e.g. …is up to date: see 114. Tricky Word Contrasts 3, #6). Those that keep their hyphen are of two main kinds. One is A3 (adjective + noun + -ed), e.g.:

(a) The structure is many-sided.

The other type of hyphen-keeping combination is fixed pairs ending in a verb with -ing or -ed (i.e. some of the combinations in groups B, C2 or D). Examples are good-looking, time-consuming and well-known. Being fixed, they feel more like compound words (similar to the adjectival ones listed in section 2 above, such as high-grade), which are also hyphenated in all sentence positions. For more about collocation, see 209. Fixed Phrases with “and”.

___________

[i] CARTER, R. & McCARTHY, M.  Cambridge Grammar of English.  Cambridge, CUP (p. 850).

183. Statements between Commas

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Statements between two commas either mark the rest of their sentence as indirect speech or comment on it

KEY CHARACTERISTICS

Two commas, or a comma and a full stop, are a familiar means of adding words to an already grammatical sentence (see 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places). They resemble paired brackets or dashes, but are weaker. The name commonly given to the words surrounded by any of these punctuation types is a “parenthesis”.

Parentheses are grammatically very varied, ranging from a single word to a sentence or more (see 294. Parentheses). Here, though, I wish to concentrate on the kind containing a verb with its subject, often without any further words. It is the presence of a verb that explains the word “statements” in the title above.

The verb in a parenthesis will not be the only one in the sentence – it cannot be if the parenthesis is outside the main sentence structure. Normally, when a sentence has two verbs, a “joining device” must also be present – otherwise the new verb makes a new sentence (see 30. When to Write a Full Stop). However, statements between commas only occasionally need a joining device – most usually when they form “non-defining relative clauses” with who, which etc. (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas). Here is a typical use without a joining device (verbs in capitals):

(a) Too much money, one COULD ARGUE, IS COMING into sport.

Here, the parenthesis is in the middle of the sentence, but it could also go at the end, the full stop replacing the second comma.  In a few cases (though not here) it could also go at the start, with a comma after.

The parenthesis in (a) shows the rest of its sentence to be indirect speech. Others act very like adverbs. In the following sections I wish to look in detail at these two uses.

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COMMA STATEMENTS WITH INDIRECT SPEECH

1. General Features

The comma statement in (a) can be recognised as a marker of indirect speech partly from the kind of verb in it (argue), a typical indirect speech one (see 150. Verb Choices with Reported Speech), and partly because the sentence meaning is unchanged if the parenthetical words are moved to the start and combined with the main part of the sentence in a typical indirect speech structure (one could argue that… – see 127. When to Use Indirect Speech).

It should be noted, however, that “indirect speech” has a very broad meaning here, since it includes cases where the “speaker” is not human, but rather something speaking on behalf of a human, such as a diagram or table (e.g. as Table 3 indicates – see 104. Naming Data Sources with “as”). Note also that when the indirect speech alongside a comma statement is a question, it keeps most of the features of direct questions, just dropping quotation marks and sometimes changing a tense:

(b) Who was responsible, everyone wondered, for these atrocities?

If the words in this parenthesis start the sentence, the commas must disappear and the question must acquire all of the features of indirect questions, including an absent question mark (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing).

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2. Uses

The uses of indirect speech formed with a comma statement are broadly the same as those of indirect speech formed in the ordinary way. The common reporting use is illustrated in sentence (b), a report of something said or thought by everyone. A typical non-reporting use – indicating the character of a statement – is in sentence (a), where one could argue tells us that the writer is giving an opinion rather than a fact (see 127. When to Use Indirect Speech).

In the following example, there is again no report:

(c) Whereabouts, could you tell me, is the library?

Here, the effect of converting the question into an indirect one is greater politeness (see 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions). One alternative to could you tell me is may I ask.

Indirect speech created by a comma statement is probably not as common as the ordinary kind. I would suggest the following reasons for preferring it.

A major special use seems to be to give more prominence to the indirect speech – to focus on it rather than its reporting. This is suggested by the different grammatical form of the indirect speech compared to the ordinary kind. Ordinary indirect speech is what grammarians call “subordinated”: forming a part of a statement made by the words around it – usually the object (see 37. Subordination). The subordination is indicated by special link words (“subordinators”): that with statements, question words like whether with questions, and infinitive verbs with commands.

Indirect speech signalled by a parenthetical statement, by contrast, is not subordinated – no subordinators are visible or understood. Moreover, although the parenthetical statement may also not be subordinated, it sometimes is, usually by means of the conjunction as. This word could be added in (a), but not in (b) or (c), perhaps because they are indirect questions. However, even where the parenthesis lacks a subordinator, the absence of one with the indirect speech still makes that much more prominent than it would be in the ordinary form.

A second possible reason for preferring to signal indirect speech with a parenthesis is to mark a statement as a continuation of a preceding report:

(d) Jones (2017, p. 62) argues for higher taxes. A remorseless, decades-long push for lower taxes, Jones writes, has brought the current level of taxation to an unacceptably low level.

This kind of multi-sentence reporting is also possible with a non-parenthetical passive reporting verb (is said by Jones…) combined with the infinitive form of the verb in the report (… to have brought…) – see 299. Infinitives after a Passive Verb, #2. Sometimes, there is even no second mention at all of the original speaker (see 207. Exotic Grammar Structures 4, #4).

Thirdly, a parenthetical statement might be useful when a speaker has begun to say something without making it indirect and then realises that an indirect form might be more advisable. Parenthetical statements are useful in this situation because of their ability to be added late in a sentence. They would be particularly utilised in speech – e.g. (c) above – where unplanned word ordering is more usual.

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3. Role of “as”

Clear explanations of when and why as might suitably begin a comma statement are hard to find. One definite situation that rules it out is when the report verb is one like CRITICISE, DENY or DEFINE, which grammatically rule it out (see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs, #4).

Before a suitable verb, as usually seems to accompany indirect speech of the reported kind (a rare exception being in the fixed semi-apologetic expression as it were: see 247. Exotic Grammar Structures 6, #5). Certainly, as is not possible in such non-reporting parentheses as one could argue in (a) and the formulaic I have to say.

The reporting use generally seems to suggest the writer’s agreement. This might explain the frequent use of as parentheses for referencing an argument-supporting point borrowed from another writer (see Ways of Arguing 1), and for introducing a comment on a neighbouring data source (diagram, table, graph etc: see 104. Naming Data Sources with “As”): when you say what you see, you usually agree with it!

Two as expressions that seem particularly common in these contexts are as…puts it for quoting (see 190. Special Uses of “it”, #4) and as mentioned above for “good” repetition of an earlier point (see 24. Good and Bad Repetition).

A common grammar error to avoid with this kind of as, alongside the use with an unsuitable verb, is use with a later that (see 133. Confusions of Similar Structures 1, #4).

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4. Form Variation

Comma statements often invite use of I, we or you – undesirable words in formal writing (see 46. How to Avoid “I”, “We” and “You”). For their avoidance after as, see 104. Naming Data Sources with “As”. Elsewhere, one can use one or it. Sentence (a) above illustrates a phrase with one that can replace I think. To use it, the verb must normally be passive, e.g. it can be argued… in (a) (see 107. The Language of Opinions). However, some verbs rule out the passive. How might it be used in the following?

(e) Nobody else, we believe, has tried this method before.

One could here use it seems (likely) or the indications are or just the parenthetical adverb apparently.

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OTHER COMMA STATEMENTS

Where comma statements do not signal indirect speech, their verb usually expresses speaking or thinking by the sentence author, and has the -ing (participle) form (see 320. Special Participle Uses, #5), e.g.:

(f) Speaking as economists, we have to disagree.

Such verbs often lack an object noun, but then need an as phrase (as economists) or adverb, e.g. honestly. Common verbs besides speaking include arguing, reasoning, thinking and writing. Two frequent verbs that need an object are considering and ignoring.

Participle-based comma statements beginning a sentence look like ordinary participles there. They differ, though, in being more usable before a main verb whose subject is not the same as their own, like inflation in the following:

(g) Speaking honestly, inflation has to be controlled.

For details of why ordinary participles often cannot be used like this, see 75. How to Avoid “Dangling” Participles.

Participle-based comma statements also resemble what I call “communication-describing” adverbs like bluntly, which say how their user is speaking (see 121. Sentence-Spanning Adverbs #2). Indeed, some of the adverbs that can accompany speaking etc. – e.g. bluntly, clearly, frankly, honestly, plainly – are also usable alone.

Occasionally, the verb in a comma statement like (f) or (g) is an infinitive (with to) rather than participle:

(h) Modern sport is, to put it mildly, all about money.

It is seemingly particular verbs that accompany to. PUT (+ it + adverb) is common, another example being to put it another way (see 286. Repeating in Different Words, #6). However, putting is also possible, or the passive participle put without to, -ing or it – put mildly above.

To also accompanies lone verbs indicating a link with a neighbouring sentence – e.g. to finish, to begin with (see 168. Ways of Arguing 2) and (informally) to start with. Some combinations are frequent enough to become “connectors” (see 259. Multi-Word Connectors).

To be is possible with a speaker-describing adjective like blunt, critical, exact, fair, frank, honest, plain, precise, sure and truthful. To mention and to state are possible with a following object, e.g. to mention no names, to mention/ state the obvious.

A few other verbs have to only in fixed expressions, some again classifiable as “connectors”, e.g. to cut a long story short, to cap it all, to make things worse (see 260. Formal Written Uses of “Thing”, #7), to say the least, to name but/just a few and to tell the truth.

138. Grammar Command Test 1 (Correcting)

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Take a short test to measure and increase command of common grammar difficulties

WHAT IS “COMMAND” OF GRAMMAR?

This is the first of two Guinlist posts offering a type of grammar test that I once composed for an end-of-year university exam – identifying and correcting deliberate grammar errors in a written paragraph. Readers are invited to try the test for themselves, and then read through the answers and their explanations. Most of the errors are also mentioned elsewhere in these pages; they are repeated here in order to advertise those other parts or provide useful reminders of their content.

The word “command” in the title above has been preferred to “knowledge”. It covers not just knowledge of grammar rules but also skill in their use. Knowledge alone of foreign language grammar rules is known to be insufficient for avoiding grammar errors from the fact that most people who spend a lot of time and energy acquiring it through memorisation still often make mistakes when they get into real communication.

A paragraph with grammar errors is not real communication, but it should be a better test of command than mere questions about rules. It has the additional benefit that, combined with the answers and explanations, it can assist important learning strategies like discovering your weaknesses and understanding why they occur (see 202: Some Strategies for Learning English).

For some advice on recognising grammar errors, see 100. What is a Grammar Error?. For a list of posts dealing with specific common errors, go to the Common Errors page. For more test posts, click on “Test” in the CATEGORIES menu on the right of this page.

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THE TEST PARAGRAPH

The paragraph below has errors of grammar and punctuation. The latter are included because they are best explained with grammar rules. A corrected version of the paragraph is provided at the end of the post.

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CORRECTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE ERRORS

The paragraph contains 24 deliberate errors. I was amazed that my computer’s WORD program only underlined one of them in blue as potentially wrong (for more on this problem with computers, see 68. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 1). Recognising and suitably correcting at least 18 of the errors with very few unnecessary changes would probably indicate a good command of grammar.

1. why is coal

The verb is here needs to follow its subject coal. The reason is that the question is indirect and hence, unlike direct ones, unable to have any part of the verb before the subject. The need for an indirect rather than direct question is a result of it introducing a topic in a formal written text, a situation where English does not normally have direct questions (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing).

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2. electricity source

Add an before these paired nouns. Three rules explain why it is needed: (a) the article before paired nouns is determined by the second of them (source), since the first is merely describing it like an adjective (see 38. Nouns Used Like Adjectives); (b) if the second noun is singular and countable (as source is), it must have either a(n) or the (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”); and (c) a(n) is the right choice if the meaning of the whole phrase is “generic” – lacking reference to a particular time (see 89. Using “the” with General Meaning).

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3. is easily

Change the adverb easily into the adjective easy. In this “complement” position after is, it is normal to have an adjective or noun expression, not an adverb like easily (see 220. Features of Complements). You could only add easily here before an adjective (e.g. is easily the best – see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much).

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4. several … advantage

Add plural-showing -s to the countable noun advantage: the vague number word several can only accompany countable plural nouns (see 204. Grammatical Agreement).

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5. it’s cheapness

Remove the apostrophe. The required meaning is “of it”, but it’s means “it is”. This is an extremely common error even among speakers whose mother tongue is English.

The probable reason why the apostrophe is so often incorrectly added is that a common meaning of apostrophes – that of possession (see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings) – is being expressed. The reason why no apostrophe is possible is that its is an adjective, not a noun; only nouns can have possessive apostrophes.

Other “possessive adjectives” are my, his, her, their, your and our (see the end of 204. Grammatical Agreement). There is also whose (both the relative and the question word), not to be confused with who’s (see 285. Complexities of Question Words, #7).

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6. it is readily available

Change to its ready availability – a noun phrase instead of a subject-verb statement. The reason is that it is linked by and to a preceding noun phrase (its cheapness), the rule being that expressions linked by and all need the same grammatical form as the first (see 93. Good and Bad Lists).

Note how changing the adjective available into the noun availability also requires readily, an adverb, to become the adjective ready. This is because adverbs describe verbs or adjectives but not nouns (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #2). For general advice on changing adjectives into nouns, see 255. Nouns Made from Adjectives.

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7. etc.

This abbreviation has the right meaning (suggesting an unfinished list: see 54. Sentence Lists 1), but is redundant here because its meaning has already been expressed by such as. Having the two together is an example of unnecessary repetition (see 1. Simple Example-Giving and 24. Good and Bad Repetition). To correct, delete etc. and insert and after cheapness.

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8. however

This should start a new sentence, with a comma after it. The reason is that it is located between two verb-based statements (both with is), the rule being that such statements must be in separate sentences unless they have a joining device (see 30. When to Write a Full Stop). However looks like a joining device but is not; it is a “connector” instead (see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors).

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9. to recommend

Change to of recommending. Although possible can be followed by a to verb, possibility cannot (see 78. Infinitive versus Preposition after Nouns and 181. Expressing Possibility).

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10. is that,

Remove the comma. The conjunction that precedes one only in special circumstances (see 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places).

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11. produce

Change to singular produces so as to agree with the singular subject coal (see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices).

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12. to heat

Delete to. Verbs after MAKE have no to except when MAKE is passive (see 10. Words with Unexpected Grammar 1, [a], and 141. Ways of Using MAKE).

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13. in addition

This is a connector like however (see 7 above), and should be corrected in the same way.

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14. so difficult

Change so to very. It is normally used only when the writer expects the strength of the adjective to be already familiar to the reader (see 156. Mentioning What the Reader Knows Already, #5). Here, the writer does not have this expectation and is communicating the strength of the difficulty.

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15. because of

Remove of. With it, because forms a multi-word preposition; without it, a conjunction (see 61. “Since” versus “Because”). The conjunction is needed here because the reason after it contains a verb (is) – prepositions link with just a noun or noun equivalent (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #1). For more about because of, see 72. Causal Prepositions.

An alternative correction is to keep of and reword the reason as a noun equivalent (because of its great bulk). However, this would necessitate similar rewording of the two other reasons in the list. Removing of is easier.

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16. is very bulky

Add it before is. After the conjunction because, verbs need a noun or pronoun subject. They can only drop their subject after a conjunction of the “coordinating” kind, like and (see 174. Eight Things to Know about Conjunctions, #3).

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17. harm

Change to singular harms so as to agree with the singular subject it (see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices).

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18. the workers,

Remove the comma. It precedes a relative pronoun (who) that helps to define which workers are meant. So-called “defining” relative pronouns cannot have a preceding comma (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas). Normally there would be no later comma either (after extracting it), but another reason for a comma – being just before and – exists here.

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19. extracting

Change to extract. Any verb linking with which needs an ordinary tense form, here either are extracting (present continuous) or extract (present simple). To understand why, see 52.Participles Placed Just after their Noun and 133. Confusions of Similar Structures 1, #3. Extracting is not an ordinary tense form, but a participle or gerund.

It is better to have present simple extract than present continuous are extracting because the reference is to all times, not a particular one.

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20. limited

Add it is just before. As in 19, there is a need for an ordinary tense form (again present simple), this time in the passive voice. Limited by itself with passive meaning is a participle rather than an ordinary tense form..

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21. the electricity’s generation

Remove the. Both of the following nouns are uncountable with generic reference – a situation normally requiring a “zero article” rather than the (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”).

An alternative correction is the generation of electricity. The rule about the is less stringent when there is a preposition (of) between the two nouns.

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22. electricity’s generation

Remove –’s. Although it is often possible on the first of two paired nouns, it is not here. The reason is the particular kind of noun pair: the second noun expressing an action affecting the first, and the first referring to a general idea. Adding –’s is only usual when the first noun in such a pair refers to a specific idea (see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings, #J). With the general meaning that electricity has here, it is correct to use an adjective-like first noun (see 136. Types of Description by Nouns, #7). 

An alternative correction is to use of (the generation of electricity – see 31. Prepositions after “Action” Nouns 1 and 160. Uses of “of”, #1).

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23. the others

Remove -s. Other here is an adjective (it “describes” the following noun energy source). Adjectives cannot have -s. Other can only have -s when it is not an adjective – when there is no following noun. In such cases it is a pronoun, and with plural meaning needs -s (see 133.Confusions of Similar Structures 1, #2).

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24. source

Add -s. To avoid this very common error, it may help to remember that a noun after one of the must be plural. The reason is that the singular noun implied by one is not the one after of, but an unmentioned one after one: the whole phrase means “one (source) of the sources”. The first of the two nouns is unmentioned to avoid repetition (see 165. Confusions of Similar Structures 2, #6).

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THE CORRECTED PARAGRAPH

If the above paragraph is corrected in the ways suggested above, it would read as follows. Alternative corrections may sometimes be possible.

In considering why coal is still used as an electricity source, it is easy to recognise several major advantages, such as its cheapness and its ready availability. However, there is no possibility of recommending it. The most important reason is that coal produces harmful gases, especially carbon dioxide, that make the earth’s atmosphere heat up. In addition, it is very difficult to transport because it is very bulky, it harms the workers who extract it, and it is limited in supply. There would be much more benefit if electricity generation used one of the other energy sources, such as the sun.

77. Apposition (Pairing of Same-Meaning Nouns)

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Two nouns referring to the same idea often occur together, sometimes with a comma between them

DEFINITION AND GENERAL PURPOSE OF APPOSITION

Noun positions in a sentence (subject, object, complement etc.) are sometimes filled by two or more nouns (or noun phrases) placed directly together. There are various ways in which the nouns may relate to each other. The first noun may resemble an adjective describing the second, as in fuel prices (see 38. Nouns Used like Adjectives); or the nouns may form a list (see 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places); or the first noun may have a “possessive” apostrophe (see 58. Optional Apostrophe Endings). Here, I want to examine a kind of noun pair in which both of the nouns refer to the same thing, e.g.:

(a) Two main ethnic groups populate Sri Lanka, an island south of India.

The two underlined noun phrases here both refer to Sri Lanka. Moreover, the verb (populate) is not one whose meaning requires such pairing (see 92. Verbs with an Object + “As” ).

Technically, such noun combinations are called “apposition”. Some have punctuation around the second noun expression, some do not. Sometimes there is an adverb before the second noun expression, for example geographically above or past-referring then (see 282. Features of History Writing, #8). Apposition improves understanding of what the nouns stand for. It is of three main kinds.

One apposition type that I am not considering here, though, is where the second noun represents part of the idea of the first, often as an example (see 54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental). Also excluded here is apposition whose first half is a whole statement rather than a noun phrase (see 191. Exotic Grammar Structures 3, #5), and apposition whose first noun names a reason for what the rest of the sentence says (see 228. Exotic Grammar Structures 5, #3).

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MAIN APPOSITION TYPES

The three typical apposition types are idea + description, description + idea, and idea + idea.

1. Idea + Description

This Combination is present in the following:

(a) Two main ethnic groups populate Sri Lanka, an island south of India.

(b) Floods, always a threat, are becoming more widespread.

(c) The defendant, a man of 45, was accompanied by two policemen.

(d) Ringo Starr, the Beatle drummer, joined the group last.

(e) Apposition, the juxtaposition of two or more nouns referring to the same thing, is common in professional writing.

(f) Paris(,) the capital of France(,) has a long history.

In all of these, the first noun names the idea and the second describes or interprets it. In all but the last, the description must be surrounded by two commas (or similar: see 294. Parentheses). Because noun phrases surrounded by commas are also common in lists, a double meaning sometimes arises (see 233. Structures with a Double Meaning 3, #1).

A further feature of (a)-(e) is that the applicability of the description to the idea is presented as new information to the addressee (i.e. not already known – see 156. Mentioning what the Reader Knows Already), or at least a reminder.

In sentences (a)-(c), the description is not unique to the idea it describes. For example, a threat in (b) could describe many other situations besides floods. Reflecting this, the describing nouns all follow a or an. In sentences (d)-(f), by contrast, the description applies only to the idea before it, and begins as a result with the.

In sentence (d), the description the Beatle drummer will sometimes be not just describing Ringo Starr, but also identifying him. In (e), the description is additionally a definition. During reading, there is a need to recognise apposition with a defining role in order to prevent time being wasted guessing the meaning of the defined noun or looking it up in a dictionary (see 177. How to Guess Meanings in a Text). Sometimes the defining role is made clearer by the presence of in other words or that is to say before the second noun phrase (see 286. Repeating in Different Words, #4).

In sentence (f) the meaning depends on whether or not commas are present. With them, the apposition is like that in (d), just adding a new fact about an idea implied to be the only one in existence. Without commas, however, the description in (f) is separating one idea of Paris from another: it identifies Paris as the one in France, not Texas, USA. Although (d) could also be identifying, it does not identify in this way. This separating use seems to be the only one where the addressee is expected to already know the link between the description and the idea.

Apposition that allows a choice about commas in the way that (f) does is very similar to statements made with a relative pronoun like who or which (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas). Indeed, (f) is easily paraphrased with a relative pronoun, e.g. the Paris that is the capital of France (see 47. Article Errors with Proper Nouns). Other examples like (f) without commas are John the Baptist, Jack the Ripper and Ford the motor manufacturer.

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2. Description + Idea

Here, the two types of noun phrase are the same as above, but in reverse order:

(g) The upmarket cars Mercedes and Rolls Royce have iconic radiator designs.

(h) (The) Beatle John Lennon died in 1980.

(i) Figure 3 summarises the results.

(j) The article “a” is incorrect before many nouns.

(k) An article, (namely) “the”, is usually correct with superlative adjectives.

(l) The Beatle drummer(,) (namely) Ringo Starr(,) joined the group last.

(m) The definite article(,) (namely) “the”(,) is rare before plural generic nouns.

In this use, the second noun phrase indicates either “which one” is meant by the preceding description or, if the description refers to a singular idea, “who/what I mean”. In general terms, the idea specifies more precisely what the description refers too.

Apposition is not the only way to specify: for other possibilities, see 117. Restating Generalizations More Specifically. When specifying apposition is a list, like Mercedes and Rolls Royce in (g) above, various language pitfalls have to be avoided (see 54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental).

It will be seen that the apposition lacks commas in (g), (h), (i) and (j), needs them in (k), and allows a choice in (l) and (m). Also noticeable is that the adverb namely before the second noun phrase is only possible when commas are present. Namely is a different sort of adverb from the kind that can precede a description, like geographically in (a) (see 313. Adverbs Linked Closely to a Noun). In (l) and (m), where the first noun phrase has the, namely is replaceable by in other words.

The reason for the absent commas in (g)-(j) is that the starting description could by itself (without the) mean one or more other possibilities than the idea indicated by the second noun phrase. Upmarket cars in (g) could additionally represent Ferrari; Beatle in (h) could indicate Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney; figure in (i) could refer to figures with other numbers; and article in (j) could mean “a” as well as “the”.

This type of meaning causes the idea represented by the second noun phrase to be clarifying which of the possibilities is meant, so that paraphrase with a relative pronoun (without commas) again becomes possible: one could add which are to (g), who was to (h) and which is to (j).

Sentence (k) resembles (g)-(j) in that its starting description could mean other possibilities than the one indicated by the subsequent idea, but its need for commas is a major difference. This need is perhaps because the first noun phrase (an article) has an rather than the or no article: there may indeed be a general rule that starting with a(n) makes commas necessary.

In (l) and (m), the choice concerning commas results from the two parts of the apposition there being exactly equal: Beatle drummer always means only Ringo Starr, and definite article refers only to the.

The difference between using and not using commas in such sentences may be as follows. The commas seem to suggest that the addressee does not already know the link between the description and the idea – for example they do not know who the Beatle drummer is (though they might know Ringo Starr). The second noun phrase is then establishing this link. Not having commas, by contrast, suggests that the addressee already knows the name-description link, so that the name is more reminding than telling.

Finally, there are some observations to make about the use of the before the description. Sentences (h) and (i) both begin with a singular countable noun (Beatle, figure) without any word before it – normally ungrammatical (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”). The most logical word to add is the.

In (h), the is easily added. Its absence is possible only if four conditions are met: an appropriate context (often journalistic – see 166. Appropriacy in Professional English); apposition starting with a description; a first noun representing a human being; and absent commas. Related to this use is titles like President Mandela, though adding the to these makes more of a difference, removing their title status.

In (i), on the other hand, dropping the is compulsory. There is no real logic here – it is just a general rule that the cannot precede apposition ending in a number (except years, e.g. the year 1927). Other examples are page 6, day 3, type B and house 27 (see 235. Special Uses of “the”, #3).

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3. Idea + Idea

Sometimes both of the noun phrases in an apposition construction name the same idea:

(n) The skull, or cranium, houses the brain.

In this use, parenthetical punctuation is always needed. The reader is usually assumed to already know one of the two idea names and to be in need of knowing the other. The new name can be either the first or the second of the two noun phrases. Mentioned second, as here, it normally follows or or alternatively known as (sometimes abbreviated to aka). If the would normally be needed before either of the names used by itself, as above, it may be dropped after or but not otherwise.

When the new name is the first noun phrase, extra words are not compulsory (The cranium, the skull, …), but are often used. Or is still possible but so are in other words, i.e. and that is to say.

A name in the idea + idea use can easily be descriptive, as in the following:

(o) The shoulder blades, or scapulae, are in a posterior position just below each shoulder.

Here, shoulder blades is a name as well as a description because it is the everyday way of referring to this part of the body (see 206. Ways of Conveying a Name). It is this fact that distinguishes apposition like (o) from that comprising a description + idea, as in (m).

74. Sentence Lists 3: Bullet Points

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Bullet points make a list more prominent but must be introduced with the right language

DEFINITION AND PROBLEMS OF BULLET POINTS

Bullet points are listed items written separately from each other and highlighted with a common attention-catching symbol, like this:

(a) Bullet points may be shown with:

• circles
• squares
• ticks
• arrows

The word “bullet” refers to the symbol used; it can be small black circles, as in (a), or other shapes, like those listed. Numbers or letters may be used too. Bullet points with these are rather like headings. The main difference is that headings have associated text after them (see 178. How to Write a Heading).

I wish to consider here when lists should be given with bullets/numbers instead of in ordinary sentences or paragraphs (the topics of 55. Sentence Lists 2: Main-Message and 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists), and also to clarify some confusions about the language that bullet points can be introduced with. The way bullet points themselves should be worded is considered in the post 93. Good and Bad Lists.

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WHEN TO USE BULLET & NUMBERED POINTS

The place where bullet points are not conventionally used is academic essays. Their avoidance there does not seem to have much logical justification but, like the avoidance of headings and informal language (see 46. How to Avoid “I”, “We” and “You”), is so widely expected that breaking the convention risks losing assessment marks. In other kinds of academic writing, however, bullet points are common: note-making positively requires them (to save time – see 158. Abbreviated Sentences), and longer tracts, such as dissertations and theses, are as likely as not to have them. Outside academic writing, two notably common contexts for bullets and numbers are professional reports and CVs.

The aim of separately highlighting listed items is, of course, to make them more noticeable, interesting and memorable. However, there is a need to appreciate that short lists in particular are not always suited to this type of presentation: sometimes such an elaborate structure can hinder the basic message. Judgement is hence needed to make the right choice (just as it is with some other aspects of writing, such as semi-colons, quotations and paragraph length). 

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WAYS TO INTRODUCE BULLET/NUMBERED POINTS

Bullet points normally follow some introductory words ending in a colon (:). This is necessary even if the introductory words lack the grammatical structure of a complete sentence – as in (a) above – and is hence different from the variable use of a colon before a single-sentence list (see 55. Sentence Lists 2: Main-Message).

Within the introductory words, there will usually be a “list name” – a noun-form expression indicating a general category to which all of the listed ideas belong, e.g. bullet points in (a). There is also likely to be a special word or phrase warning of the list to follow. There are various possibilities. 

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1. Introductory Words before Complete Lists

A list is complete when all of the list members covered by the list name are actually mentioned (see 96. Avoiding Untruths 2: Lists & Predictions). The following expressions commonly give warning of a complete list.

I. AS FOLLOWS is a fixed phrase that always needs -s even though lists are by nature a plural concept. It is generally placed at the end of its sentence. The wording before may follow one of three different patterns. Firstly, it may be like a complete sentence, with or without an introductory there:

(b1) There are numerous requirements for learning a language, as follows: …

(b2) Learning a language has numerous requirements, as follows: …

In most such cases, there will be a number expression before the list name (either exact like five or vague like numerous) and a comma before as follows. You can also drop as follows or replace it with namely. Beginning with there are changes the word order and hence the focus of the sentence (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences).

Secondly, the wording before as follows may include a verb with which it is more closely associated than the rest of the sentence, such as SHOW:

(c) Bullet points may be shown as follows: …

No comma is possible here, and as follows cannot be dropped. Other likely verbs include listed, enumerated, given, presented, set out, and synonyms of categorised (see 162. Ways of Writing about Categories ). Sometimes they are in the active voice: Writers show…

The third kind of wording before as follows makes it a complement of a link verb like BE. It is not compulsory – the verb can just as easily have a colon straight after – and no comma is possible:

(d) The requirements for learning a language are (as follows): …

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II. THE FOLLOWING can be used either like an adjective, describing an accompanying noun, or by itself like a noun (see 71. Gerund and Participle Uses of “-ing”). It can go at either the start or end of a sentence:

(e) The following reasons for child trafficking have been identified: …

(f) The following are the reasons for child trafficking: … .

(g) Child trafficking has the following reasons: … .

(h) The reasons for child trafficking are (the following): … .

As (h) shows, the following can be dropped when it is directly before the colon. It is likely to be in this position either when the main verb is are or the word just before it is a preposition. When the main verb is are, as follows is also possible – see (d) above. The use after a preposition can be illustrated by sentence (a) above, where the following could be added after the preposition with.

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III. BELOW does not always mean the same as the other two expressions. At the end of a sentence it refers not to immediately-following data (bullets or otherwise), but to data written a little later. In this respect, it resembles its opposite above (see 48. Tricky Word Contrasts 1, #4).

Below can end a sentence as either an adjective or an adverb. As an adjective, it must follow its partner noun (…for the reasons below), which often causes it to be the last word before the full stop. Using below before a noun in the same way as above (*…the below reasons) is a common error. As an adverb at the end of its sentence, below is also likely to be the last word:

(i) The reasons for child trafficking are given below. (= NOT IMMEDIATELY)

At the beginning of a sentence, however, below can introduce bullet points. It will usually be an adverb at the very start:

(j) Below are (given) the reasons for child trafficking: … .

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2. Introductory Words before an Incomplete List

Incomplete lists (which are usually but not always examples – see 96. Avoiding Untruths 2) are most easily introduced with some alongside one or other of the three expressions shown above:

(k) Some of the ways in which bullet points may be shown are (as follows): …

(l) The following are some of the requirements for learning a language: …

(m) Below are some of the reasons for child trafficking: …

An alternative is to use example-showing expressions like for example, such as and including (see 1. Simple Example-Giving) instead of as follows, the following and below. First, however, the sentence before the bullet points must be made to end with a noun or noun-like expression that shows what is being listed, like requirements in this illustration:

(n) Learning a language has numerous requirements, such as: …

Compare this with (b) above, where the list is a complete one. It is a common error to mix up the uses of such as and as follows in sentences like this.

One other useful way to introduce an incomplete list is to use INCLUDE as the main verb. This is possible in sentences like (d), (h) and (n). Note, though, that with its use all other example-showing language should be avoided in order not to have unnecessary repetition (see 24. Good & Bad Repetition): in (n) such as would need to be either removed or replaced by namely. 

58. Optional Apostrophe Endings

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In some contexts an apostrophe ending on a noun can be dropped without much change of meaning

THE REMOVABILITY OF APOSTROPHE ENDINGS FROM A NOUN

The apostrophe ending on nouns may be -’s or -s’. It has various meanings, but one especially highlighted in coursebooks says someone or something represented by a noun owns something represented by a noun nearby. This other noun could come first (see 247. Exotic Grammar Structures 6, #4), but a more common position, and the one of interest here, is straight after. Examples are Alexander’s horse (= the horse owned by Alexander), Tesco’s supermarkets, cats’ paws and customers’ accounts.

What the books rarely say is that placing the same two nouns together in the same order without the apostrophe ending can often express the same meaning. The apostrophe ending can be dropped quite easily in this way from two of the above examples, leaving Tesco supermarkets and customer accounts.

Nouns without an apostrophe before another noun are very like adjectives (see 38. Nouns Used Like Adjectives). Two of their key features are that they must normally be singular and they generally have no influence on the choice of a/the before them, this being determined by the later noun.

Apostrophe nouns are different, since they can easily be plural and do usually determine the use (or non-use) of an article before them. One consequence of this difference is that sometimes dropping an apostrophe ending also requires a change of article. This is the case, for example, with Manila’s climate (no article because of the proper noun Manila), which in the non-apostrophe use becomes the Manila climate (the required by singular countable climate – see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”).

The problem raised by the optionality of some apostrophe endings is, of course, how to recognise it. It is this question that the present post seeks to address.

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THE MEANINGS OF APOSTROPHE ENDINGS

It is hardly surprising that apostrophe endings can express other meanings than “possession”, given the variety of alternative meanings that other possession words like HAVE and of can have (see 116. Rarer Uses of HAVE and 160. Uses of “of”). Surveying the various meanings of apostrophe endings is a necessary preliminary to identifying optional usage.

Most of the meanings are recognised by mainstream grammar descriptions. Many are the same as the meanings listed in this blog in 136. Types of Description by Nouns. They are:

A.  PROPERTY-OWNER: Arsenal’s stadium; passengers’ belongings; John’s car.

B.  COMPONENT-OWNER: cats’ paws; Shakespeare’s beard; Ford’s employees; a summer’s day.

C.  CHARACTERISTIC-HOLDER: the sky’s colour; water’s boiling point; gardens’ beauty; iron’s density; Gandhi’s sincerity; the Beatles’ haircut (the second noun is a feature or property of what the first noun represents. For more on properties, see 163. Ways of Naming Properties).

D.  LOCATION: Hong Kong’s traffic; The Pacific’s currents; Manila’s climate; Kenya’s President.

E.  SOURCE: the sun’s rays; the BBC’s programmes; cows’ milk; France’s wines.

F.  AUTHOR: Archimedes’ Principle; Down’s Syndrome; Shaw’s plays; Halley’s Comet.

G.  BENEFICIARY: Fathers’ Day; The Champions’ League;  a visitors’ entrance;  a heroes’ welcome;  Nelson’s Column;  a People’s Charter;  St Paul’s Cathedral (the two nouns can be reversed with for placed between them).

H.  ACCOMPANIMENT: Newton’s time; the earth’s history; Mandela’s wife; The Colosseum’s fame; women’s rights; a plant’s environment; writer’s cramp (the second noun names something that accompanies the person or thing named by the first but is not a possession, part or property of it. The last of the examples is slightly different in that the second noun is not an automatic accompaniment of the first – some writers do not suffer from cramp).

I.  ACTOR: Microsoft’s rise; the panda’s survival; television’s influence; the aircraft’s descent (the first noun says who/what executes an action indicated by the second. For a related structure, see 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2).

J.  OBJECT: Pompeii’s destruction; London’s portrayal; the atmosphere’s pollution; America’s discovery; Newsweek’s embarrassment; Ronaldo’s transfer; Lennon’s assassin; the UN’s supporters; a bicycle’s owner (the first noun names the object of an action; the second noun names either the action or a type of person responsible for it).

K.  TIME DURATION: an hour’s wait; a moment’s hesitation; three days’ delay.

L.  TIME OF OCCURRENCE: yesterday’s news; July’s edition; Saturday’s events; an hour’s time.

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OPTIONAL AND NON-OPTIONAL APOSTROPHE ENDINGS

An optional apostrophe ending is one whose removal is grammatically possible and does not seem to alter the meaning, as in customers’ accounts. Some apostrophe endings are not optional because their removal is not possible and/or does change the meaning significantly.

An example of a phrase with a non-optional ending is France’s wines (one cannot say *France wines); one whose meaning changes if the ending is removed is a weekend’s work (= “work lasting a weekend”, in contrast to weekend work, which means “work suited to a weekend”).

Here are some tentative generalizations about the optionality of possessive endings.

1. Non-Optional Endings

Of the meanings listed above, the following seem particularly unlikely to allow removal of the apostrophe ending:

– CHARACTERISTIC-HOLDER (C): The apostrophe ending usually seems necessary if the first noun represents an individual person or thing, like Gandhi’s or the garden’s. If, by contrast, the first noun represents a general group or concept, then an apostrophe ending may become more optional (though still more likely). Possible non-apostrophe expressions derivable from the list above are the water boiling point and garden beauty.

– AUTHOR (F). The only time when the apostrophe seems droppable is when the author is responsible for a group of offerings, as in Shakespeare’s play/plays (we can say a/the Shakespeare play and Shakespeare plays). In contrast, Archimedes’ Principle, Pythagoras’ Theorem, Halley’s Comet and Down’s Syndrome appear likely to keep their apostrophe endings (especially the last).

– BENEFICIARY (G). Again, the apostrophe ending usually seems necessary. The only example above where it is optional is the visitors’ entrance, the alternative being a/the visitor entrance.

– ACCOMPANIMENT (H). Most but not all expressions in this category appear not to have an optional apostrophe ending – we cannot say *the Mandela wife, *The Colosseum fame or *woman rights. The exceptions seem to involve first nouns that are not human and lack a capital letter (see 62. Choices with Capital Letters). Two such expressions in the list above are the earth’s history (allows earth history) and a plant’s environment (a/the plant environment).

– TIME DURATION (K). Only the last of the above-listed phrases can drop its apostrophe (= a three-day delay). It seems to be the inclusion of a number word before the time noun that generally enables this (see 258. Saying How Long Something Lasts, #7).

– TIME OF OCCURRENCE (L). Dropping the apostrophe ending of yesterday’s, today’s and tomorrow’s before a noun is not possible. It must also stay on time expressions like Tuesday’s or this semester’s or next week’s, and within an hour’s (minute’s, day’s etc.) time (= “one hour (etc.) from now”: see 293. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 4, #1). However, in other time nouns an apostrophe does seem optional. Examples are Saturday’s events (= the Saturday events), July’s edition (= the July edition) and the twentieth century’s wars (= twentieth-century wars).

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2. Optional Endings

All of the other categories above seem to allow a great deal of choice about the use of an apostrophe ending. I offer the following observations.

– PROPERTY-OWNER (A): The nature of ownership suggests that owners will mostly be living creatures. They do not always have an optional apostrophe ending. They usually have one when the first noun names a group (Tesco Supermarkets, the Arsenal Stadium, passenger belongings). If the first noun refers to an individual, the apostrophe can still be optional, but only when the overall meaning is publicly well-known (e.g. Churchill’s cigars = the Churchill cigars; Pavlov’s dog = the Pavlov dog). However, if an adjective equivalent of the first noun exists, it may be preferred to the noun (the Pope’s shoes = the Papal shoes). Overall meanings that are not well-known, such as John’s car and Shakespeare’s hat, usually need their apostrophe ending.

– COMPONENT-OWNER (B). Once again, the apostrophe ending looks especially optional when the first noun names a group (Ford employees, cat paws). If an individual is being named, the apostrophe ending may normally be necessary, its absence either impossible or suggestive of a different meaning. Consider, for example, Shakespeare’s beard. One could conceivably say the Shakespeare beard, but this seems to describe a kind of beard rather than the exact one that Shakespeare had, wearable by anyone. Examples where the apostrophe ending seems unlikely ever to be dropped include Shakespeare’s fingers and Jesus’ blood. Presumably these could never form categories.

– LOCATION (D). Apostrophe endings showing this usually seem optional, e.g. (the) Hong Kong traffic, Pacific currents.

– SOURCE (E). This category resembles A and B above. The apostrophe ending is usually optional when the first noun represents a group (e.g. BBC programmes, cow milk). It if represents an individual or thing, the public fame of the overall meaning may be relevant: the sun’s rays can become sun rays but the cow’s milk has a different meaning from the general cow milk. In the list above, France’s wines is exceptional. Perhaps the existence of the adjective equivalent French rules out *France wines.

– ACTOR (I). Most apostrophe endings in this category seem optional, though in some cases they seem preferable. Easily-obtained alternatives to above-listed examples include panda survival and the aircraft descent. Not so possible-sounding is the Microsoft rise: to avoid the apostrophe ending you normally have to say the rise of Microsoft. Perhaps the human and/or group nature of Microsoft explains why.

– OBJECT (J). Apostrophe endings seem especially optional on object nouns when the noun after them refers to someone who performs an action, rather than to an action itself (it is easy enough to say the Lennon assassin, UN supporters, the bicycle owner). With action nouns, apostrophes seem more likely: we cannot say *the Pompeii destruction, *the London portrayal, *the America discovery or *the atmosphere pollution (though apostrophes can still be avoided with of – see 31. Prepositions after “Action” Nouns 1).

It may be that object nouns accompanying action nouns are especially likely to have an apostrophe ending when they are associated with a particular rather than general time (as Pompeii etc. above are). In generalised expressions, the alternative structures seem more necessary (e.g. electricity generation for all electricity at all times).

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3. The Role of Fixed Expressions

Fixed expressions are particular words combined together so often in a particular way that paraphrasing them sounds strange (see the discussions of “collocation” in 16. Ways of Distinguishing Similar Words and 164. Fixed Preposition Phrases).

Apostrophe endings in fixed expressions will of their nature, therefore, not be optional. They occur in many of the categories above, even ones normally associated with optional apostrophe endings. Examples are Fathers’ Day, a moment’s hesitation, Down’s syndrome, women’s rights and writer’s cramp.

55. Sentence Lists 2: Main-Message

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Lists that are the main point of a sentence usually follow either a colon or a verb with no punctuation

THE PROBLEM OF LIST-GIVING

Lists are common in academic and professional writing, where there is a regular need to give such listable information as aims, reasons, results, similarities, differences, examples, subclasses, problems, advantages, conclusions and recommendations. Unfortunately, English list-giving is also associated with a variety of common grammar errors by writers who have grown up using another language. Many of these comprise a chapter in my book Grammar Practice for Professional Writing.

Part of the challenge in list-giving is writing the words around it, and part is putting the list itself into the right grammatical form. The surrounding words vary according to whether the list is given in a single sentence or as bullet points or in multiple sentences, and in single-sentence listing according to whether or not the list is the main information being given. This post is about the words around a list when it is the main information of a single sentence.

The wording around single-sentence lists that are not the main information being given is the topic of the Guinlist post 54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental, while words accompanying bullet-point lists are in 74. Sentence Lists 3: Bullet Points. The problems of composing lists themselves, whether sentence-based or as bullet-points, are the topic of 93. Good and Bad Lists. Advice on introducing and composing multi-sentence lists is offered in 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists. One other relevant post is 17. Colons versus Semi-Colons.

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WAYS OF INTRODUCING A MAIN-MESSAGE SENTENCE LIST

There are essentially two different ways to introduce a list that is the main information of a single sentence. Compare the following (the lists are underlined):

(a) The (two) main languages of South America are Spanish and Portuguese.

(b) There are three basic branches of Biology: Botany, Zoology and Medicine.

In both of these examples, the list is accompanied by a general term that summarises what is being listed: main languages of South America in (a) and basic branches of Biology in (b). We might call these the “list names”. They are the same kind of generalization that is associated with example-giving (see 1. Simple Example-Giving), classification (see 162. Writing about Classifications) and headings (see 178. How to Write a Heading). The lists identify what the list names are referring to (see 117. Restating Generalizations More Specifically).

The difference between (a) and (b) is the way the list is linked to the list name: with a verb in (a) and a colon in (b). Each of these presents its own problems.

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1. Linking a List to a List Name with a Verb

Various link verbs are possible (see162. Writing about Classifications). Most obvious is are, and others include comprise (without of – see 42. Unnecessary Prepositions) and include (provided the list is only some of the possibilities indicated by the list name – see 1. Simple-Example-Giving and 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). The following points are especially important about listing after a verb:

(I) Punctuation is unnecessary. It is tempting to use a colon or comma between a verb and a list because in speech there is often a pause there. However, not all spoken pauses need punctuation (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud). A much more reliable guideline is the general rule for colon use that this blog suggests in 17. Colons versus Semi-Colons: look to see whether the words before the list sound like a complete sentence by themselves; only if they do should a colon or other punctuation mark be used. List introductions ending with a verb are not usually able to stand alone as a complete sentence.

Some English writers do actually use a colon in such situations, but the necessity to do so can be disputed. I would suggest that the only exception to the complete-sentence rule might be when the list is physically separated from the words before it – as bullet points, for example (see 74. Sentence Lists 3: Bullet-Points), or in a table (see 104. Naming Data Sources with “As”).

(II) No additional list-introducing expressions like namely are possible. These expressions are possible only with some types of incidental listing (see 54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental), and as a substitute for a colon (see below).

(III) You can start with either the list name or the list. The former is probably more common. This is because English generally prefers to put the main and the longest information of a sentence – both of which the list is here – at the end rather than the beginning.

(IV) Adding or omitting the before the list name creates different meanings. When the verb is BE, adding the (cf. the main languages of S. America above) says that the list covers all of the possibilities, while omitting the says that the list is not all of the possibilities – that it is only examples (see 235. Special Uses of “the“, #3). With or without the, a number word can be added to show how many items are in the list, but is not compulsory.

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2. Linking a List to a List Name with a Colon

A colon is common before a main-message sentence list when the preceding words make a possible complete sentence (as defined in 30. When to Write a Full Stop). The preceding words very often begin with there are (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences). Check that the words before the colons in the following examples remain complete sentences with the lists removed.

(b) There are three basic branches of Biology: Botany, Zoology and Medicine.

(c) Biology has three basic branches: Botany, Zoology and Medicine.

Introductions like these are common before multi-sentence lists in English as well as single-sentence ones, but multi-sentence lists must follow a full stop, not a colon (see 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists).

The use of a colon between a possible complete sentence and a sentence-based list is much more characteristic of main-message sentence lists than incidental ones, where a comma is preferred (see 54. Sentence Lists 1). However, the difference between main-message and incidental lists is sometimes blurred. Consider this:

(d) Europe is the source of the two main languages of South America * Spanish and Portuguese.

Should the * here be replaced by a comma or a colon? In fact, either seems possible. The sentence can be primarily about the source of the listed languages, making the list incidental and the punctuation a comma; or primarily about the names of the languages, making the list central and the punctuation a colon. This possibility of alternative interpretations is perhaps due to the similarity of (d) to the following clear-cut example of incidental listing:

(e) The two main languages of South America, Spanish and Portuguese, originated in Europe.

The following further aspects of listing with a colon should be noted:

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(I) The list name usually needs a number word before it (without the). The number word in (b) and (c) above is three. If you are not sure what the exact number is, you can use a vague number word like several, numerous, many, a number of or various (but not a lot of, which is too informal – see 108. Formal & Informal Words). You then confirm the incompleteness of the list by writing etc. or a synonym at the end.

Another solution is to combine an exact number word with a limiting word like basic, main, major or important (cf. three basic branches in [c] above) (see 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). You could also avoid having to use a number word altogether by introducing the list with a verb instead of a colon (see above, and also 162. Writing about Classifications ).

(II) There should be no list-introducing words after the colon. Expressions like namely, in other words, that is to say, viz or such as are no more possible after a colon than after a list-introducing verb. However, if a colon is possible, these expressions can be used instead of it, with a comma before them, not after (…languages, namely Spanish…). Note that such as is different from the others because it shows an incomplete list (i.e. one of examples – see 53. “As”, “Like” and “Such As” and 54. Sentence Lists 1); and you should avoid which are because, though grammatical, it is very rare in English.

(III) The list must end the sentence. If you want a sentence to continue after a colon-type list, you have to replace the colon with two commas or two dashes: 

(f) There are three basic branches of Biology – Botany, Zoology and Medicine – which are all popular with students.

Dashes are probably more desirable than commas because they keep the focus of the sentence on the list (see the end of 294. Parentheses).

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PRACTICE EXERCISE (LIST PUNCTUATION)

Many of the points in this and the previous post about listing have involved punctuation. So here is an exercise that might help some of them to be remembered. You have to add necessary punctuation to each sentence (answers at the end).

1. There are four main German car manufacturers Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

 2. The English punctuation marks comprise full stops, commas, colons, semi-colons, dashes, hyphens, question marks, exclamation marks, quotation marks and apostrophes.

 3. Every colour comprises one or more of the five fundamentals red, yellow, blue, black and white.

4. Engineering has three traditional branches mechanical, civil and electrical plus newer ones like aeronautical and electronic.

5. The two national languages of Canada English and French must be studied in all of the country’s secondary schools.

6. The most important ministers in Britain after the Prime Minister are the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary.

7. Four kinds of fuel power the majority of motor vehicles petrol, diesel, alcohol and electricity.

8. The two vertebrate classes mammals and birds are warm-blooded and have evolved comparatively recently.

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Answers

1. Colon after manufacturers (the list ends a sentence with There are …). 

2. No additional punctuation (the list is introduced by a verb). 

3. Comma or colon after fundamentals (the list ends at a full stop and follows a possible complete sentence lacking There are…). 

4. Two commas or two dashes around the list mechanical, civil and electrical (the words before are a possible sentence, but the list does not end the sentence). 

5. Two commas around the list English and French (the list is an incidental one after a long list name that exactly matches it).

6. No additional punctuation (the list is introduced by a verb).

7.  Comma or colon after vehicles (the list ends at a full stop and follows a possible complete sentence lacking There are…).

8. No punctuation (the list is an incidental one after a long list name representing more than the list – it also covers reptiles, for example).

54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental

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A list that is not the main sentence message may or may not need to be introduced by a special list-showing expression

THE PROBLEM OF LIST-GIVING

Lists are common in academic and professional writing, where there is a regular need to give such listable information as aims, reasons, results, similarities, differences, examples, subclasses, problems, advantages, conclusions and recommendations. Unfortunately, English list-giving is also associated with a variety of common grammar errors by writers who have grown up using another language.

Part of the challenge in giving a list is writing the words around it, and part is putting it into the right grammatical form. The surrounding words vary according to whether the list is given in a single sentence or as bullet points or in multiple sentences; and in single-sentence listing according to whether or not the list is the main information being given. This post is about the words around a single-sentence list that is not being given as the main information.

The wording around a list that is the main information of a single sentence is the topic of the post after this: 55. Sentence Lists 2: Main-Message, while wording before bullet-point lists is considered in 74. Sentence Lists 3: Bullet Points. The problems of composing lists themselves in sentences and as bullet-points are the topic of 93. Good and Bad Lists. Advice on introducing and composing multi-sentence lists is offered in 122. Signpost Words in Multi-Sentence Lists. One other relevant post is 17. Colons versus Semi-Colons.

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ILLUSTRATION OF INCIDENTAL LISTING

Lists that are given in a single sentence without being the main information there may be illustrated as follows (the lists underlined):

(a) It is useful to be able to understand Spanish and Portuguese.

(b) The two main languages of South America, Spanish and Portuguese, originated in Europe.

The list in both of these is incidental because the sentence is not primarily naming it, but is indicating something else about its members: their usefulness in (a) and their origin in (b).

Yet despite this similarity, there is a major difference. Only (b) contains what I call a “list name”: a noun-like expression (usually plural) placed just before the list and naming the general class that contains the list members in order to identify the kind of thing being listed: the two main languages of South America above (see 162. Writing about Classifications).

List names are also common with lists that are not incidental – both the single-sentence and multi-sentence kinds. In combination with an incidental list they make a special form of the grammatical structure known as “apposition” (see 77. Apposition [Pairing of Same-Meaning Nouns]), similar to incidental name-stating (see 206. Ways of Conveying a Name).

Combining an incidental list with a list name seems to be especially challenging, and is what the rest of this post is about.

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WORDS OFTEN FOUND BETWEEN A LIST NAME AND INCIDENTAL LIST

The main source of errors made by learners of English seeking to give an incidental list after a list name seems to be the use of special list-showing words between the list name and the list. There are two important things to know: which words are possible and when they should/can be used.

The words that are possible are of two main kinds: those suitable before an incomplete list, and those suitable before a complete one. A list is incomplete when it does not mention all of the members of the group represented by the list name (see 96. Making Statements More Uncertain 2). Take the group countries of the United Kingdom. A complete list would be Wales, Northern Ireland, England and Scotland; an incomplete list would be one lacking one or more of those. The following words are able to introduce an incomplete list:

Words between a List Name and Incomplete List

…(,) such as…
…(,) like…
…, including…
…, for example…
…, for instance…
…, e.g. …
…, …etc.

…, above all…
…, especially…
…, in particular…
…, not least
…, particularly…
…, notably…

The words in the first group here introduce (or, in the case of etc., follow) a list of examples. Lists of this kind are a randomly-chosen sample of the possibilities indicated by the list name, no different from the unmentioned ones, which have the typical purpose of clarifying the list name. For more on this kind of example-giving, covering single as well as listed examples, see 1. Simple Example-Giving.

The words in the second group, on the other hand, suggest that the incomplete list is not randomly chosen, but is somehow more important than unmentioned possibilities (see 198. Indicating Importance, #4).

Words between a List Name and Complete List

When a list is given in full, it is identifying rather than exemplifying or highlighting (see 117. Restating Generalizations More Specifically). The following expressions are usable:

…, namely…
…, in other words…
…, that is to say…
… of…
…, i.e…
…, viz…

The last two here are Latin abbreviations (see 130. Formal Abbreviations). Note how the group does not include which are and such as. An equivalent of the first is common in some other languages, but the English form is simply not used. The second is absent here because it is one of the words in the previous group. Using it before a complete list is a common error.

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USE OF WORDS BETWEEN A LIST NAME AND LIST

Incomplete lists always need one of the relevant expressions above to separate them from their list name. Usually a comma must be added before this expression (not after it!), but such as and like vary in this requirement according to meaning (see 53. “As”, “Like” and “Such As”, “Preposition Uses 1”).

Complete lists, on the other hand, often allow a choice about including a relevant expression – not having one is likely to be as correct as having one – and in some cases including one would even be wrong. This means that, in the event of uncertainty about correct usage, avoiding a word like namely is likely to be a good move.

The main exception to this choice rule involves equivalence-showing of (see 160. Uses of “of”, #4). Unlike the other link expressions, it is only sometimes possible, and when it is it tends to be necessary as well. The determinant of its use seems to be the noun chosen as list name. In the following examples, problems requires it while colours rules it out:

(c) The meeting discussed the problems of remuneration level and leave entitlement.

(d) The colours red and blue combine in different proportions.

In (c), of could not be omitted or replaced, whereas in (d) it is not possible. A definite guideline for recognising of-requiring nouns like problems is, unfortunately, not easy to identify. Other examples are advantages (see 277. Advantages & Disadvantages, #4), concepts, ideas, issues, matters, questions (see 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions, #2) and solutions. With some of these, the equivalence meaning of of needs to be distinguished from a use meaning “concerning”.

Note the lack of commas around the lists in (c) and (d). Lists after of do not usually have such commas, but other lists vary. The rule determining whether or not to add commas with other lists is something like the following.

When the list name has the before it, consider whether its meaning without the is more than the list or exactly equal to it. If it is more, commas are not possible, but if it is equal, they are necessary. For example, colours in (d) means more than red and blue, so there are no commas. In the following, however, the list name primary colours equals the list after it, thus necessitating commas:

(e) The primary colours, red, yellow and blue, make other colours by combining together.

In sentences like this, namely or any other of the above-listed link words except of can be added at the start of the list.

Here is another example of the use without commas:

(f) The ancient languages Latin and Greek have left a strong legacy in Europe.

The lack of commas here suggests there are other ancient languages in the world than Latin and Greek. The list name means “the particular ancient languages listed hereafter”. Adding commas would cause it to mean “all the …”, thus wrongly indicating that unmentioned ancient languages (e.g. Sanskrit) never existed. For more on sentences like this, see 77. Apposition.

50. Right and Wrong Comma Places

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There are particular places where skilled English writers are still likely to wrongly add or drop a comma

THE DIFFICULTY OF COMMAS

Punctuation is rarely considered in writing courses for advanced learners of English. Yet many aspects of it seem to give uncertainty to even the most skilled academic and professional writers. Elsewhere in this blog punctuation particularly features in the posts 17. Colons versus Semi-Colons,  30. When to Write a Full Stop,  58. Optional Apostrophe Endings and 223. Uses of Hyphens. Question marks and quotation marks both feature in 127. When to Use Indirect Speech.

There is much to say about commas, perhaps because they have so many different uses. The normal approach is to list these uses. However, because this blog always aims to offer something slightly different, I wish to focus more on when commas should not be used than when they should. To start, though, it is useful to be briefly reminded of the main uses. We cannot just say that commas show a “pause”, since many pauses in English are signalled by either a different kind of punctuation or no punctuation at all (see 91. Pronunciation in Reading Aloud).

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THE MAIN COMMA USES

1. Separating listed items

Lists with and or or need a comma after each listed item except the last two. After the second-last item (before and/or) there is a choice:

(a) The “Old World” comprises Africa, Asia(,) and Europe.

Lists without and / or (adjectives before some nouns, any list before etc. or equivalent) have one comma after each item except the last):

(b) Archaeological investigations involve detailed, painstaking study.

For adjective lists without commas, see 243. Pronunciation Secrets, #1. For equivalents of etc., see 1. Simple Example-Giving.

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2. Separating verbs linked by a conjunction

This happens particularly when the conjunction begins the sentence, before both of the linked verbs (see 25. Conjunction Positioning), e.g.: 

(c) IF you work hard, you will succeed.

When a conjunction is between two verbs, a comma is less likely except before conjunctions only usable in that position (and, but, so, (n)or, for, yet).

The verb-separating use is also common where the second verb is a participle without a conjunction (see 101. Add-on Participles), or an infinitive (see 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #5).

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3. Acting (alongside a second comma or a full stop) like brackets

Commas like this resemble paired brackets or dashes. They can surround individual and multi-word nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (see 294. Parentheses) and also subject-verb combinations that would not normally be found by themselves as a separate sentence (see 183. Statements between Commas). When they are noun-like, they typically form a structure called “apposition” (see 77.  Pairing of Same-Meaning Nouns):

(d) Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor, came to power by winning a war.

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COMMON ERRORS WITH COMMAS

One of the best-known comma errors is using them instead of full stops. This is not considered here, however, because there is a whole Guinlist post about it elsewhere (see 30. When to Write a Full Stop). Nor am I here repeating errors with for example (see 33. Complex Example-Giving) and relative pronouns (see 34. Relative Pronouns and Commas). The comma errors I do wish to consider are as follows.

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1. Comma after a Long Subject

Verbs should not be separated from their subject by a comma (for advice on recognising subjects, see 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices). Unnecessary commas tend to be added especially after long subjects, like the following: 

(e) The very last task at the end of the day was to lock the doors. 

The main word in this subject – the one “agreeing” with the verb was – is task; the other words make the meaning of task more exact. There is no reason to add a comma after day at the end of this long subject. This position is not one of the three main comma positions listed above.

Perhaps the reason why writers often feel a need to add a comma after a long subject is that in speaking we would normally pause there. This discrepancy between speech and writing is a good illustration of why looking for sentence pauses is an unreliable way to decide where to use a comma.

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2. Forgotten Second of Two Bracket-Like Commas

Here are some more examples of commas used like brackets: 

(f) Toyota, the largest car company in the world, is Japanese.

(g) The English, unlike the French, spread butter on their bread.

(h) There are a few grammar rules, however, that are easy to remember.

(i) Napoleon introduced many reforms, some of which endure today. 

The first three examples here have two commas bracketing the underlined words, while in (i) a full stop replaces the second comma because the bracketed words end the sentence. It is in sentences needing two commas that the second comma is likely to be forgotten. I use the word “forgotten” because I believe that most people who leave out the second comma do actually know that two commas are needed. A similar error occurs with quotation marks and brackets, which also usually come in pairs.

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3. Comma between “that” and Indirect Speech

A sentence where some writers might feel a need for a comma after that is: 

(j) Jones (2013, p. 34) argues that English comma usage is problematic. 

All of the words after that here are indirect speech (see 127. When to Use Indirect Speech). A comma is not normal after this kind of that because it is a conjunction, a kind of word that nearly always forbids a following comma (see 40. Conjunctions versus Connectors and 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”). In standard spoken English, there is not even a pause after that – any pause is likely to be before it rather than after.

A possible reason for the feeling that a comma ought to follow that is the influence of direct speech where the words inside quotation marks are separated from a speech verb by a comma without that.

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4. Unnecessary Comma before a List

Lists that are not their sentence’s main information sometimes need bracket-like commas around them (see 54. Sentence Lists 1: Incidental), but lists that are the main sentence point never do. They either have no preceding punctuation at all or, if the words introducing them are a possible complete sentence, a colon (see 17. Colons versus Semi-Colons).

In the following sentence, the words before the list (underlined) are not a possible sentence, so that no preceding punctuation is necessary:

(k) The traditional branches of engineering are mechanical, electrical and civil.

To make the underlined words here a possible complete sentence – necessitating a colon after them – they must begin Engineering has… or There are…, and include a number word like three or various (see 161. Special Uses of “There” Sentences).

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CORRECT COMMA USES THAT SEEM INCORRECT

Sometimes a comma comes between a subject and a verb, or after that, without being wrong. It is useful to understand how this can happen.

1. Correct Use between a Subject and a Verb

When a subject ends with bracketed information it needs a comma after it: 

(l) The twins, Antonio and Maria, were rewarded. 

The comma after Maria is possible because there is also a comma before Antonio, making Antonio and Maria bracketed. This means they are the same as the twins, so only two people are being mentioned (see 77. Apposition). Without the comma after Maria, the one after twins would become a listing one, making Antonio and Maria different from the twins, so that four people altogether would be indicated. For another example, see 288. Grammatical Subtleties, #3. 

Knowing about such possibilities can help in another way too. Consider this newspaper extract: 

(m) The improvement in UK business performance, increased government spending … . 

It is easy to believe the underlined words are the subject of the verb increased (meaning that business improvement caused government spending to increase). However, this must be wrong because of the comma. The correct interpretation is that all of (m) is an unfinished list. The word increased must therefore be a participle, used like an adjective to describe spending, and not a verb (see 52. Participles Placed Just After their Noun).

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2. Correct Use after “that”

Once again the bracketing use of commas has an effect. Consider this (bracketed words underlined): 

(n) Experts believe that, if regular exercise IS UNDERTAKEN, heart disease WILL BE less likely. 

The underlined words, being bracketed, need commas before and after. Because they also come directly after that, the first comma must go there. Not all types of bracketing are possible after that. The type shown above involves a conjunction (if) written before both of the verbs it joins (shown in capitals)¹. Another type of bracketing that is possible is around a preposition phrase (where there is no verb). You could thus exchange the underlined words above for with regular exercise.

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PRACTICE EXERCISE (COMMA USAGE)

Decide where commas are possible below. To help you, the comma types needed in each sentence, along with the order of their occurrence, are indicated by the letters A (= listing), B (= conjunction-associated) and C (= bracketing). Answers are given afterwards.

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1. When thought is given to the different possible means of transport particularly motor vehicles in villages towns and cities it seems obvious that cycling is by far the most sensible.  (C, A, B) 

2. Engaging in conversation consulting a dictionary or at any rate a phrasebook and doing grammar exercises are all important strategies for learning a foreign language and will it may not be a surprise to learn also develop other intellectual abilities.  (A, C, B, C) 

3. There is no evidence as far as one can tell that genetic factors are the main reason why human beings of a particular colour stature or body shape outperform other human beings in particular areas of expertise since environmental factors like upbringing and training which are very difficult to separate out are an alternative very plausible explanation.  (C, A, B, C, A)

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Answers

1. When thought is given to the different possible means of transport, particularly motor vehicles, in villages, towns(,) and cities, it seems obvious that cycling is by far the most sensible. 

2. Engaging in conversation, consulting a dictionary, or at any rate a phrasebook, and doing grammar exercises are all important strategies for learning a foreign language, and will, it may not be a surprise to learn, also develop other intellectual abilities. 

3. There is no evidence, as far as one can tell, that genetic factors are the main reason why human beings of a particular colour, stature(,) or body shape outperform other human beings in particular areas of expertise, since environmental factors(,) like upbringing and training, which are very difficult to separate out, are an alternative, very plausible explanation. 

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¹The combination that, if is a rare example of two conjunctions written next to each other.