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Essential vs. Nonessential Modifiers: Understanding Punctuation Usage

Learn the difference between essential and nonessential modifiers and how to properly use punctuation in sentences. Includes examples and practice exercises.

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Essential vs. Nonessential Modifiers: Understanding Punctuation Usage

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  1. Warm Up: Determine where punctuation is needed. Write the word prior to where the punctuation is needed, the piece of punctuation, and the word after the piece of punctuation. • The weather on Saturday was beautiful but Sunday was frigid. • I hope the weather warms up soon because I can’t stand the cold. • Snow days are nice however I still want to have a little bit of a spring break.

  2. Essential vs. Nonessential Modifiers Modifying Clauses can be broken into essential and nonessential information

  3. Essential • of the utmost importance • necessary

  4. What does this mean in a sentence? • Without the essential information something in the sentence would be unclear. • Essential information will clarify which specific noun is being talked about.

  5. Examples of Essential Information • The dog that you saw came back again. • “that you saw” is essential, because it tells you which dog. • The man sitting by the window is talking to himself. • “sitting by the window” tells you which man.

  6. Essential modifiers • Do NOT have commas used around them.

  7. Nonessential Information • This information may be omitted from the sentence without any loss of meaning. • Usually it just adds more information that really isn’t necessary for the clarity of the sentence.

  8. Examples of Nonessential Information • My mother, sitting by the window, is watching the birds at the bird feeder. • Mother is specific, so the added description “sitting by the window” simply adds detail.

  9. Examples of NonessentialInformation • Mrs. Johnson, who you met at the theater, is a drama teacher. • “who you met at the theater” adds information that is unnecessary to know who Mrs. Johnson is. It might be a reminder to the person listening, but it doesn’t have to be there.

  10. Commas and Nonessential Information • Notice that commas set off non-essential information in a sentence. • If the information can be removed from the sentence without adversely affecting the meaning, you put commas around the information.

  11. That vs. Which • When trying to determine which word to use to start a clause (this does not apply to all uses of the words that and which) first determine if the clause is essential or non essential. • Essential clauses begin with “that.” • Non essential clauses start with “which.”

  12. Practice: In each of the following sentences, label the imbedded clause as restrictive or nonrestricitve and add commas accordingly. 1.      Magic Johnson who is a famous basketball player is coming to our hometown next week. 2.      Harper Lee who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird impressed me with her work. 3.      Athletes who use drugs are no longer eligible to play. 4.      Employees who are slack on the job are going to be fired soon. 5.      A building which burned last week was over sixty years old.

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