Elements internal to clauses - Punctuation - Style

Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010

Elements internal to clauses
Punctuation
Style

22.5.1 Summary

Adjective Strings

1. Use commas to separate adjectives when they independently modify the noun.

2. Do not use commas when the one adjective affects the meaning of the next.

Interrupting Elements

1. Enclose an interrupting element in paired commas, parentheses, or dashes.

Explanatory Elements

1. Set off most explanatory elements with paired commas.

2. Use dashes for a conversational tone or if the element has internal punctuation.

3. Use parentheses to make it seem like an aside or a footnote.

22.5.2 Adjective Strings

When two or more adjectives appear before a noun, not in a series connected by and, but as a string, you may need to separate them with a comma.

1. Use commas to separate a string of adjectives when each of them independently modifies the noun.

It was a large, well-placed, beautiful house.

They strolled out into the warm, luminous night.

2. Do not use a comma when the one adjective affects the meaning of the next.

She refused to be identified with a traditional political label.

Social network marketing is an innovative business strategy.

22.5.3 Interrupting Elements

Interrupting elements are words, phrases, or clauses that might have been located at the beginning or end of the current clause but that are located within the clause instead.

1. Enclose an interrupting element in commas, parentheses, or dashes, depending on how forceful you want the interruption to seem. Always use the punctuation marks in pairs.

The Quinn Report was, to say the least, a bombshell.

Alex Rodriguez is (according to reports) as tainted by steroids as Barry Bonds.

Happiness—especially when it comes through the graces of chance—is as fleeting as a hot streak at the craps table.

22.5.4 Explanatory Elements

Explanatory elements are modifiers that add useful information but are not essential to the core meaning of the clause: technically, they are called nonrestrictive. In contrast, restrictive modifiers add essential information that specifies who or what a word refers to. They answer the question “Which one?” The following modifiers (underlined) are restrictive because they add specifying details:

In cases of divorce, the parent with custody receives the tax deduction for child support. [Which parent? The one with custody.]

Binge drinkers, unlike most alcoholics, are attracted to bars that have a party atmosphere. [Which bars? The ones that have a party atmosphere.]

Nonrestrictive modifiers add explanatory details but they do not specify reference. They can be removed without changing the core meaning of the clause. They answer the question “What about it?” The following modifiers (underlined) are nonrestrictive because they add explanatory but not specifying details:

In this case, the mother—the parent with custody—receives the tax deduction for child support. [What about the mother? She's the parent with custody.]

My binge-drinking friends are attracted to the Main Street Bar, which has a party atmosphere. [What about that bar? It has a party atmosphere.]

Note that for relative clauses, the restrictive form uses that while the non-restrictive one uses which.

Specifying, restrictive modifiers are never punctuated. Explanatory, non-restrictive modifiers usually are.

1. Set off most explanatory elements with paired commas.

These five books, which are on reserve in the library, are required reading.

These five books, all required reading, are on reserve in the library.

2. Use dashes for a conversational tone or if the element has internal punctuation.

Some characters in Tom Jones are “flat”—if I may use a somewhat discredited term—because they are caricatures of their names.

The influence of three impressionists—Monet (1840—1926), Sisley (1839—1899),and Degas (1834—1917)—is obvious in her work.

3. Use parentheses to make it seem an aside or a footnote.

The brain (at least the part that controls rational thinking) is a complex network of distinct units working in parallel.

Kierkegaard (a Danish philosopher) once asked, “What is anxiety?”