“Those girls, who serve in the restaurant are very enthusiastic.”   I’m from vietnam and my teacher said that relative clause which have demonstratives such as ‘this’,’that’,’these’,’those’ requires comma like the sentence above. Is that true ?      “Those girls who serve in the restaurant are very enthusiastic.”   Is this sentence whithout comma grammatically wrong? I would be grateful if someone can help me make it clear.
21672
On Server Fault, we were discussing  in chat. There are non-native speakers in the chat and somehow we got on the topic of grammar and proper use of commas.   The sentence of interest:     I have just got a new Ubuntu LAMP VPS server, which I am trying to configure.   Some people thought that the comma was superfluous. Others did not.   When is it appropriate for a comma to preceed the word which, and is the example sentence above correct?    Also, before you vote to close this question as a dupe of , please consider the differences between the two questions and ignore the similarity of the titles. The OP's example sentence was restructured in that question instead of addressing the proper use of commas.
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My friend and I had an argument about whether this sentence required a comma:     I understand where you're coming from but I disagree.    My friend insisted that there should be a comma before "but":     I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree.   From my point of view, while grammatically correct, the addition of a comma is not necessary.   When I looked online for sources to answer our disagreement, I found no authoritative sources and many sources were contradicting one another. Some argued, like I believe, that it's not necessary because the addition of comma is of no value in that context (i.e. the addition of comma doesn't make the sentence easier to read) but others said it was mandatory.   So, which is it? Is a comma necessary before a conjunction?
65806
eg. 1 I have to be sharp and clever lest I go hungry? (infinitive)  eg. 2 John and his friends feared lest the inquiry promised into the extent of the hated forest areas would be carried out too rigorously? (past tense?).  Are both examples acceptable? I've read somewhere that the clause after 'lest' is usually in subjunctive mood and therefore the tense should be an infinitive? Are there other possibilities?  Thank you very much!
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I hope you can enlighten me. I get varying answers in Google and I need to find out which is the correct grammatical structure for these sentences.     The rest of the staff is/are on leave at the moment.      The rest of my family is/are arriving late.
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For example in a sentence like "This is the place where he was murdered", is where functioning as both a relative adverb and a relative pronoun?  Here where acts as pronoun as it refers back to its antecedent and also as relative adverb (according to Wren and Martin) but what i want to know is    Do they always work in this way? A lot of places I have seen that simply say that the word where modifies noun, a lot of grammar books say but How? Like it isn't adding something to the meaning of verb (was assaulted). Instead of telling me that this is a relative adverb I want an explanation or is it something that just needs to be classified as what renowned grammarians have classified because I haven't quite come up with any reason that proves it. One reason I could come up with was that where modifies the verb by relating a clause (this is the place) with it.
41830
Am I correct to include a comma before "but instead" in the following example? I am not sure if the latter part of the sentence could be considered a main clause because there is no subject, so I am not sure if I am right or not.     The manual holds that women must not choose a programme themselves, but instead wait to be assigned to a module.
93656
What are the rules of parallelism? I've been reading a lot about it since yesterday and all I encounter is "They must have the same grammatical form"? What does this exactly mean?  I know how to make parallel sentences with gerunds. The things get trickier when it comes to using modifiers.  For example:     I love using the phone that you bought me and the computer.   On the left side of the conjunction there is a noun phrase that consists of an article + noun + another modifier and on the right side there is an article + noun.  They are both noun phrases but the first one has additional modifier. Is that still considered a parallel sentence?  Another example:     I like to swim and to feel good.   Here on the right side of the conjunction there is an infinitive and on the left side there is an infinitive + complement? Is that parallel?
65515
Is it correct to use commas around therefore in the following quote?     An important prerequisite to meet the requirements of ... is, therefore, the ability to ...   Or should I omit the first comma to make the sentence correct?     An important prerequisite to meet the requirements of ... is therefore, the ability to ...
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Here, Cambridge doesn't use a comma.  I am confused. Example in Cambridge Dictionary: Unfortunately we can't come this evening after all.    On different pages i found some rules telling there needs to be a comma. Examples follow:  We do usually put a comma after adverbs like 'unfortunately'. They are called 'sentence adverbs' because they modify the whole sentence and often give the opinion of the speaker/writer.  A parenthetical phrase adding detail to the main clause. Initially placed parentheticals are normally set off by a comma.  Cause I'm studying for my Level 2 graduation, i want going crazy reading here and there comma rules followed by looking in the Cambridge Dictionary without finding them there.   HELP me out please !
60057
As I understand it, 'for' is a coordinating conjunction. Learning German as a second language has taught me specifics about reforming sentences, but it is an awful lot less common in English. If I were to rearrange the sentence: "I ate lunch, for I was hungry," so that 'for' was the first word of the sentence, by my reckoning I should end up with "For that I was hungry, I ate lunch." Does this new sentence have any grammatical errors? I inserted the word 'that' after 'for', because without it the sentence didn't sound right. Should I have? Is there a rule for that? Thank you in advance, an aspiring author.  Additional Information:  I am not having problems with the sentence, this is a general question to increase my knowledge of the manipulations of coordinating conjuntions.
100450
I noticed the following sentence, taken from Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language:"     Fifthly, I would do away with those long compounded words; or require the speaker to deliver them in sections, with intermissions for refreshments.   What is the grammatical function of the semicolon here? I would have expected a comma to be appropriate here, as to me it coordinates a dependent clause, and that would be solely under the jurisdiction of a comma, as I understood.   I thought semicolons were for replacing conjunctions between independent clauses or avoiding confusion with commas when writing a list that requires commas for one of the points within.  Thank you!
123487
This was at a moment when the magistrate, overcome with tiredness, had   gone down into the garden of his house and, dark, bent beneath   some implacable thought, like Tarquin cutting the heads off the   tallest poppies with his cane, M. de Villefort was knocking down   the long, dying  stems of the hollyhocks that rose on either side of   the path like ghosts of those flowers that had been so brilliant in   the seasons that had passed away.   Why is there no comma before the bolded and? My understanding is that there is an independent clause on each side of the bolded and.   By the way, the subject of the two independent clauses is the same.
93365
Several years ago, a previous boss told me to use a semicolon and comma with the word "however".  I've always questioned this and would like to know if the following random sentences are using the correct method.        Our plane was delayed overnight; however, the airlines reimbursed us for lodging.   It looks as though he's upset; however, she told me he always has that look on his face.   I want to find him a nice gift; however, I am a broke until payday.      Normally I would use a less "wordy" sentence in casual writing, but hopefully the example will suffice.  For example, on number 3 I would usually type:      I want to get him a nice gift, but I'm broke until payday.
102615
Why is there a comma after "his" in the headline? Does this mean his AND his wife's experience? Is it correct english, or slang?  "Man discusses his, wife's experience being injured during the Boston marathon bombings."  Source:
61763
I wanted to know if it is grammatically correct to say:  Either the teacher or the students WAS enjoying the picnic.  I'm talking about a grammatical principle and not a proximity or attraction one.  Thank you so much..
107489
I saw this sentence on Internet recently written by a native speaker, so I wondered why native speakers tend to use this grammar.   Explain to me why I should I use "is" instead of "are"? Is it grammatically correct?     "There is rice, meat and tomatoes on my plate"   Why "There are rice, meat and tomatoes on my plate" is not correct?
47718
"Before the war, you always think that it's not you that dies."   - Ernest Hemmingway    I'm having trouble diagramming this sentence. My question is about the subordinate clause in bold.  Is the extraposed that-clause("that dies") at the end the subject or an adjective of the subject?  When you un-extrapose it, would it be : "that it that dies is not you" or " that that(who) dies is not you."?