How do you decide whether to set off a nonessential phrase with commas?

How do you decide whether to set off a nonessential phrase with commas?

• A. If the phrase can be removed without changing essential meaning, it is nonessential and set off with commas.
• B. If the phrase is essential, set off with commas.
• C. Always remove nonessential elements.
• D. Use semicolons to separate nonessential phrases.

Answer: (A)

Nonessential phrases add extra detail but don’t change the main meaning of a sentence. They should be set off with commas to show they’re optional. If the sentence still makes sense and points to the same person or thing without that phrase, it’s nonessential. For example: The principal, a longtime advocate for reading, announced the new program. If you remove the extra detail, you still know who announced it, so that information is optional and gets commas. If the information is essential to identify which people or things you’re talking about, it should not have commas: Students who study nightly improve their grades. Here, removing the clause would change which students you mean, so it’s essential and not comma-delimited. The other choices don’t fit because essential information isn’t set off by commas, you don’t always remove nonessential elements, and semicolons aren’t the standard way to handle nonessential phrases.

Nonessential phrases add extra detail but don’t change the main meaning of a sentence. They should be set off with commas to show they’re optional. If the sentence still makes sense and points to the same person or thing without that phrase, it’s nonessential. For example: The principal, a longtime advocate for reading, announced the new program. If you remove the extra detail, you still know who announced it, so that information is optional and gets commas. If the information is essential to identify which people or things you’re talking about, it should not have commas: Students who study nightly improve their grades. Here, removing the clause would change which students you mean, so it’s essential and not comma-delimited. The other choices don’t fit because essential information isn’t set off by commas, you don’t always remove nonessential elements, and semicolons aren’t the standard way to handle nonessential phrases.