To emphasize or to de-emphasize —
that is the question
This is perhaps the most meaningful convention in modern punctuation. Consider ways to build sentences beyond the combination of simple subjects and predicates. You can add phrases or clauses that are necessary to the fundamental meaning of the sentence or you can add phrases and clauses that are superfluous. Phrases or clauses that are necessary are described as restrictive; they must remain. Those that are not necessary are described as nonrestrictive; they could be dropped.
Restrictive phrases & clauses are not set off by commas; nonrestrictive are.
Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet is often revived in London and New York.
Macbeth, a tragedy by Shakespeare, is often dramatized on All-Hallows Eve.
King Lear, a tragedy in five acts, is one of the greatest triumphs of literature.
Any reader, who reads too quickly, will miss the major points of the work.
George Eliot’s novel, Middlemarch, is a long and perturbing book.
The Mill and the Floss by George Eliot is a work that should be read slowly.
[Which way do you want to go with this last sentence?]
Sentences in Green are incorrect.
Worksheet punctuating restrictive & non-restrictive phrases & clauses
Answers to Worksheet punctuating restrictive & non-restrictive phrases & clauses