April 20, 2026

Commas for Setting Off Nonrestrictive Information

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"My sister Jennifer" has a different meaning from "My sister, Jennifer." A comma tells the reader that the name "Jennifer" in no way narrows down who I mean by "my sister," so I must have only one sister. The absence of a comma tells the reader that the name is restrictive information necessary to know which sister I'm talking about. Here's the full explanation.

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The Best Punctuation Book, Period now fully revised
Posted by June on April 20, 2026
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The major publishing styles have changed a lot of rules, especially for punctuation. Prefixes are less likely to need hyphens, "etc." is no longer necessarily followed by a comma in book publishing, and more. The revised edition of The Best Punctuation Book, Period reflects all the newest rules. You can find it wherever you buy books and e-books.

June Casagrande is a writer and journalist whose weekly grammar/humor column, “A Word, Please,” appears in community newspapers in California, Florida, and Texas. more

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    June Good catch! Thanks. I fixed to follow AP style of using single quotation marks in headlines.

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    brenda Speaking of correct apostrophe usage, check out your headline: I was like, 'No way!" Posted by June on August 18, 2025 I’m a proofer, too, and am constantly correcting the use of apostrophes! :)

  • ChatGPT can't do me

    mike re: first-person plural. I've made countless edits changing "we" and "our" in technical pieces — there's a strong pull there to use "nurse-person plural" ("how are we feeling today?") in tutorials, recipes, and similar. Clearly AI got it from somewhere, and I think a lot of people are okay with this faux-familiar, we're-in-it-together style. https://www.mikepope.com/blog

  • Not grieving the demise of the semicolon

    23 June 2025 – Optimal Editorial Services […] but unlike Grammar Underground’s June Casagrande, I am a cheerleader for the tipped wink (;) (https://www.grammarunderground.com/not-grieving-the-demise-of-the-semicolon.html). In my opinion, it changes the key of a discussion from major to minor and gives a subtle hint to […] https://www.optimaleditorialservices.co.uk/2025/06/23/23-june-2025/

  • Is 'Alright' All Right?

    Amy Lechter I believe I should have put my comments above into this space. Oh well, hope you might take a moment to respond. I have just watched some of your podcasts and appreciate your direct and honest voice :>) http://amysiegeltutoring