hopechest
Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2003
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- English
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- United States
- Current Location
- United States
Someone commented to me:
I’ve considered in general considered names parenthetical elements, but, unless I’m mistake, there are times when it’s not needed, such as:
"My boyfriend Tobias called me today."
In that case we can put commas in before and after “Tobias” but it’s not necessary because the phrase can be considered one unit, but if we reword it:
"Tobias, my boyfriend, called me today."
In this second example the sentence makes sense without the title “my boyfriend” so we treat it as a parenthetical element and the commas are necessary.
So am I correct, and are there other examples when commas before and after names are not required?
-You have a tendency not to put a comma before names. Sometimes it's good, especially in quick speech and quick phrases, but usually you're supposed to put commas in front of names.
I’ve considered in general considered names parenthetical elements, but, unless I’m mistake, there are times when it’s not needed, such as:
"My boyfriend Tobias called me today."
In that case we can put commas in before and after “Tobias” but it’s not necessary because the phrase can be considered one unit, but if we reword it:
"Tobias, my boyfriend, called me today."
In this second example the sentence makes sense without the title “my boyfriend” so we treat it as a parenthetical element and the commas are necessary.
So am I correct, and are there other examples when commas before and after names are not required?