“Don’t interrupt!” That’s good advice when it comes from parents or teachers, but writers sometimes find it necessary or desirable to interrupt a sentence with a word, phrase, or clause in order to add an important secondary idea or to emphasize a point:
- Nick is the most talented writer, by far, in the class.
In this case, the phrase by far interrupts the sentence, which can stand alone without it. Notice that a comma should be placed on both sides of the interrupter.
Novice writers often omit the second comma:
- Nick is the most talented writer, by far in the class.
However, this suggests that the entire phrase by far in the class is an interrupter—which can confuse the reader when nothing follows to complete the sentence.
Combining Sentences
Interrupters are very useful for combining short, choppy sentences. Thus,
- The Beatles' "Hey Jude" was recorded in 1968. It reached Number One in America.
can be combined as follows:
- The Beatles' "Hey Jude," recorded in 1968, reached Number One in America.
Notice that the comma precedes the endquote, as it would in a quotation.
Appositives
An appositive phrase is special type of interrupter that further identifies the preceding noun:
- Norman Smith, director of human resources, said several positions will be open.
- Jim brought his guitar, a 12-string Rickenbacker, to the party.
- We saw one of my favorite movies, Shrek, at the downtown theatre.
In the last example above, the title of the movie functions as the interrupter since the sentence could stand alone without it.
Long Interrupters and Dashes
Long interrupters or interrupters with internal punctuation should be offset with dashes if using commas would make their relationship unclear:
- The Beatles—a British rock group consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Star—had an enormous impact on Western culture.
Writers sometimes use dashes to set off short interrupters for even greater emphasis:
- Nick is the best writer—by far—in the group.
This technique, however, should be used rarely. Emphasizing too many things dilutes their impact.
For more information on commas, see Comma Rule No.1—Joining Independent Clauses, Comma Rule No. 2—Separating Items in a Series, and Comma Rule No. 3—Nonessential Elements.
Test Yourself
Where are commas needed in the following sentence? (Answer appears at the end of the article.)
- Learning grammar and punctuation like learning to play a fine instrument gives writers more power and flexibility in their writing.
Using commas to offset short interrupting elements in a sentence clarifies their relationship to the rest of the sentence, but a comma should be placed on both sides of the interrupter. (Answer: place commas after "punctuation" and "instrument.")
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