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Comma or no comma?
Consider this sentence:
"My cat, Frankie, loves to go outside."
This sentence seems correct but what if I have more than one cat? This seems to tell the reader I have one cat and his name is Frankie. If I have two cats, and Frankie is the one that loves to go outside, should I drop the commas?
5 Answers
- ?Lv 72 years agoFavorite Answer
You're asking about the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive appositives. If you have one cat, "Frankie": is not necessary because "my cat" already defines the cat you are speaking about. The appositive "Frankie" in that case is non-restrictive and takes commas. If you have several cats, then you need to specify which cat you mean, so the appositive "Frankie" is restrictive; no comma is needed. Nonrestrictive appositives take commas; restrictive ones do not.
- Anonymous2 years ago
You really don't need the commas either way. Would you write "My son, John, likes to go out" or "My friend, Mary, likes to go out"? I hope not. And if you insist on using the commas, they carry no implication that you have one cat or more than one, just that you're a comma fan.
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