Lesson 6 Commas with Nonessential Elements

Essential Question

How can you tell when something is truly important and, alternately, how can you tell when something isn’t really necessary?

Grammar in the World

cartoon about non-essential employees

adapted from cartoon by Scott Adams

What Do I Know?

Use the interactive below to find out how much you already know about commas with nonessential elements:

Mizzou cheerleaders

image source

The Mizzou cheer team.

Building Blocks

Grammar is a complex system and structure of language. Mizzou Academy Grammar Lab spotlights one skill (or block) at a time, but it’s often helpful to see how a skill works together with other, related blocks to build the language structure as a whole. You may find the following resource topics helpful as context for this lesson:

Learn About Nonessential Elements

Commas help us communicate because they signify where to slow down, so that the different elements in a sentence don’t all run together and become confusing.

With nonessential elements—words and ideas in a sentence that give us some extra information—commas show us that something is “extra” by visibly separating it from the base of the sentence and, therefore, keeping the emphasis on the main idea.

Let’s break that down a little:

Nonessential elements may be single words, or they may be full phrases or clauses.
Essential elements provide information that is essential to the meaning of the sentence. It’s necessary information. So, without that element, the meaning of the sentence itself changes.

Example: Modifiers that are essential cannot be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning.

In this case, the underlined clause tells us which modifiers cannot be removed. That’s essential information! If you take it out, the sentence no longer says something that’s true:

Modifiers cannot be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning.

The Rule: If a modifier is essential (i.e. necessary to communicate the meaning of the sentence), do not use commas to separate it from the rest of the sentence.

Nonessential elements, on the other hand, add extra information to something whose meaning is already clear and complete. It helps us understand something better or in greater detail, but it’s not necessary to understand the sentence’s core meaning. We know that something is nonessential (or unnecessary) because the meaning of the sentence is the same whether the element is included or not.

Example: Modifiers, which can be single words or full phrases and clauses, can be essential or nonessential.

In this case, the modifier is a clause that tells us something extra about what a modifier is, in order to help us better understand the subject of the sentence, but if we take it out, the basic meaning of the sentence doesn’t change:

Modifiers can be essential or nonessential.

The Rule: If a modifier is nonessential, use commas both before and after the word, phrase, or clause.

The Test: If you’re not sure whether to use commas, try removing the word, phrase, or clause from the sentence (or move it around to other places within the sentence). Then ask, does moving or removing it change the fundamental meaning of the sentence?

If taking it out changes the meaning, then the modifier is essential: no commas.

If taking it out does not change the meaning, then the modifier is nonessential, and commas are needed both before and after the element.

Examples of nonessential modifiers that require commas:
Single words used for emphasis or transition	Football teams*, obviously,* receive the largest share of the athletics budget. The average high school cheerleading squad*, however,* is responsible for their own fundraising.
Phrases: several words that act together as one expression or part of speech	Athletic equipment, *items necessary to perform a sport, should include cheerleading uniforms. School sponsorship for travel events, such as regional or national competitions, is long overdue. School athletes of all kinds, burdened by expectations for both academic and extracurricular excellence*, have earned more equitable access to funding.
Dependent Clauses: expressions that contain complete ideas but that cannot stand on their own as complete sentences	All high school sports, even though they may vary in publicity and popularity, demand equal athletic talent and work ethic. The stigma of cheerleading as something merely fun and frivolous, when it actually demands extensive talent and training, must be eradicated. Those that argue cheerleaders aren’t athletes, if they dare, should attend a cheer camp and try it themselves. Pro Tip: Most of the time, dependent clauses beginning with the word which will be nonessential. Comma rules are challenging, which is why we need extra practice with them.

Nonessential elements can appear at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence.
If a nonessential element appears at the beginning of a sentence, place a comma after the nonessential element.	*In fact,* I doubt very many of us would survive a day at cheer camp.
If a nonessential element appears in the middle of a sentence— if it interrupts the sentence—place a comma both before and after the nonessential element.	Cheerleading, *one of the few athletic activities in high school that is truly open for coed participation*, requires everything from brute strength to intricate artistry.
If a nonessential element appears at the end of a sentence, place a comma before the nonessential element.	Cheerleading squads demonstrate perhaps the most important aim of a high school sport, *which is teamwork*.

Do I Get It?

Use the interactive below to check your knowledge of commas with nonessential elements: