Comma

[Allen165]

"My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble."

Would you have set off "Elin" with commas? Some people argue that it's not necessary on the theory that we live in a monogomous society and the assumption that we have only one spouse is thus a safe one.

Thanks.

 

[bertietheblue]

"My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble."

Would you have set off "Elin" with commas? Some people argue that it's not necessary on the theory that we live in a monogomous society and the assumption that we have only one spouse is thus a safe one.

Thanks.

That goes back to a similar thread I started a few weeks ago. Corum posted this useful link on restrictive and non-restrictive appositives:
Appositives: Restrictive and Non-restrictive - Grammar, Punctuation, and Style - kwizNET Math/Science/English Homeschool/Afterschool/Tutoring Lessons/Worksheets/Quizzes/Trivia

To me, you only have one wife so giving the name isn't restrictive; it's parenthetic, like saying 'whose name is Elin', so I'd use commas.

Mind you I'm still not clear. The only appositive I can think of right now is one I really don't know how best to punctuate:

The goalkeeper, Rob Green, was guilty of a howler
The goalkeeper, Rob Green was guilty of a howler
The goalkeeper Rob Green was guilty of a howler

[excuse the italics - can't seem to deitalicise]

 

[Raymott]

"My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble."

Would you have set off "Elin" with commas? Some people argue that it's not necessary on the theory that we live in a monogomous society and the assumption that we have only one spouse is thus a safe one.

Thanks.

We don't all live in the same society.
In any case, the argument you refer to would indicate that you don't need to dispense with commas. It's only in non-monogamous societies that you'd have to write "My wife Elin ...", just as we'd normally write "my brother Jack" to distinguish him from "my brother Enrico".