1. Conquering The Comma And Other Punctuation Marks By Jill Oliver Compiled from information and materials provided by Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL)
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12. Essential vs. Nonessential DCM S V S V My neighbors, who live down the hall, are very rude! S nonessential phrase V My neighbors, who live down the hall , are very rude! DCM S V S V The people who live next door are very rude! S essential phrase V The people who live next door are very rude! DCM S V S V Chris bought Jo earrings for Christmas, her favorite holiday. S V nonessential phrase Chris bought Jo earrings for Christmas, her favorite holiday . DCM S V S V The chai that I order from Java Kai is better than this one! S essential phrase V The chai that I order from Java Kai is better than this one! Without the essential phrase, the sentence does not make complete sense: The people are very rude! Even without the phrase the sentence makes sense: My neighbors are very rude! Use commas to set off additional and unnecessary information. Here’s a tip: The word “that” is almost always an indicator of an essential phrase or clause.