Use of comma

Forums: English, Punctuation
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Please consider this sentence:

"The bicycle is suitable for a wide range of riders, from the casual older rider to the younger more competitive rider."

My question concernsthe comma - should it be there or not? Perhaps a different punctuation mark should be used?

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Type: Question • Score: 5 • Views: 948 • Replies: 10

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@Andrew H,

No comment.

Joe(I mean, no comma.)Nation

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@Andrew H,

It's really a toss-up. I'm inclined to agree with Joe that no comma is necessary. However, its use does not make the punctuation somehow "wrong." Judgement call.

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I use the read-it-aloud rule.
Is there a reason to take a beat or a pause before "from"?

Joe(Not from where I am standing.)Nation

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@Joe Nation,

but there is a slight hesitation before you say "from"...

R(i'd leave it in)P

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I very much appreciate all your input - reading it all.

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@Region Philbis,

If you start putting commas everywhere there a hesitation, rather than a pause, you get :
"The bicycle is suitable for a wide range of riders, from the casual, older rider to the younger, more competitive rider."

I starting to think we need a re-write:

The bicycle is suitable for a wide range of rider from casual cruisers of any age to the more competitive cyclist, including racers.

Joe(Now I've done it.)Nation

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@Andrew H,

Andy you can use one anywhere you might want a slight pause

…....except of course at the end of a sentence

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@Joe Nation,

Joe Nation wrote:

If you start putting commas everywhere there a hesitation, rather than a pause, you get :
"The bicycle is suitable for a wide range of riders, from the casual, older rider to the younger, more competitive rider."

That's very likely the way Charles Dickens would have punctuated it. He would separate evrything with commas.

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@Andrew H,

It doesn't need to be there.

How does the rest of the passage look, though? If you have a lot of longer sentences without commas, then keeping this one in might help to break things up a bit.

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@Andrew H,

This is another subject about which I know nothing, and which matches the value of my fervent opinion, which is lucky.

Unnecessary commas are the kiss of death like 3 riders in a line.

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Use of comma

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