Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[shvetsov2005]

Hello,

I have read the following text:

The sixth stage consists of writing the final draft of the essay. A spellcheck is required, before adding a title page and compiling a bibliography.


Could you explain why did they put comma after 'required'?

Alex.

[redset]

It's really a stylistic thing - it implies a pause, like a break in time between the thing before the comma and what follows it. In this case the sentence is explaining that the essay writer needs to perform a spellcheck, and then finally the title page and bibliography are added; so the title page and the bibliography are the final stages. We often use the word before in this way to introduce something that happens next. "You will enjoy a delicious meal in a fine restaurant, before being whisked away for a romantic weekend in Paris!"

Without the comma, the sentence feels more like a command - you must spellcheck BEFORE you add your title page and bibliography, not AFTER. In many sentences the comma wouldn't be completely necessary, but here it puts a break between required and before, so it loses the sense that before is part of that rigid requirement.