Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jmbran11]

I use a comma with "such as." For example:

The Presdident of Nation X has made many mistakes, such as lowering the minimum wage.

or

How did the people cope with natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods?


Am I making a mistake? If you know the answer, please let me know. My colleague and I disagee, and I don't want to argue the point if I'm in the wrong.

[ChuckECheese]

It seems you are both right. You may or may not use commas on both occasions.

[Atassi]

[daskalos]

It comes down to the whole "open" vs. "closed" school of punctuation. Strictly speaking (closed), the first sentence clearly needs the comma, as the clause is not restrictive, it's just adding amplifying information. To me, even in the open system, it needs the comma for the sake of sentence rhythm.

The second one is dicier. It could easily be rewritten to read, "How did the people deal with such natural disasters as hurricanes and floods?" (But not, by implication, earthquakes and wild fires.) These implied exceptions are what make it easier to feel that the second sentence needs no comma. But if the meaning of the question is to learn about how they responded to any and all natural disasters, the comma makes more sense, since again the phrase is just adding non-essential, illuminating detail.

So no, you are not making a mistake, since I will assume that you are not meaning in the second question to ask only about hurricanes and floods, because if you were you probably would have written, "How did the people cope with hurricanes and floods?" Again, though, even with "open" punctuation, you could get away far more easily leaving the comma out of the second sentence than the first. (If you left it out of the first you would restrict your meaning to mistakes that resembled lowering the minimum wage.)

Your mistake might be that you think any use of "such as" needs a comma. What you need to look at is what meaning the phrase/clause following such as carries -- does it carry information essential to understanding the meaning or not. Does it change the meaning, or amplify it?

"I like New York in June."
"I like New York, in June."

The first talks only about your feelings on NY in June and carries no clue as to how you feel in other months. The second implies that there are months in which you could, at the least, take or leave New York.

Sure, commas often have the function of indicating natural pauses, but that's not their only function -- sometimes they really, really matter, and sometimes, not any choice is valid.

[Hanson]