Let’s begin the lesson by identifying the error in the statement below.
The governor she said had gone.
Confusing? You are right if you say it is confusing and ambiguous. What does the writer mean, really? Is it that the said governor did or has done something? This could be in the context of:
The governor whom she said had gone was still around when I got there.
The statement can also be complete on its own, in terms of saying the governor had gone:
The governor, according to her, had gone.
The governor – based on what she said – had gone.
Indeed, it is the last perspective that I want us to consider here, to underscore an intriguing way commas are used, which I want you too to master. In such a construction, you need two of the versatile punctuation marks (commas) as they make the content of the clause clear, just as they help in the reading of it:
The governor, she said, had gone.
President Buhari, I learnt, will sack the service chiefs soon.
President Buhari, they say, is not ready to sack the service chiefs.
The structure also helps the writer to be in a safe position in terms of the validity and origin of the message. Once he inserts ‘he says/said’, ‘they say/said’ etc., it is implied that he is not really the one making the assertion; indicating that he or she is not the origin of it. Besides, it is a clever way of reporting, and that is why journalists use it a lot. The problem, however, is that many of them fail to appropriately use commas with the sentences. They either leave out the marks, or they put a comma and hurry away. This is wrong because it is like lazily punctuating sentences with parenthetical or appositive structures.
Study these well punctuated versions:
The chief justice, who was appointed in May, will soon retire.
The principal, since he may no more go on leave, will represent the ministry at the meeting.
The chief justice, he said, would soon retire.
The teacher, they claimed, would represent the school.
Tense
Another point to stress is that the statement is a kind of reported speech. This means that you should be sensitive to the tense of the verb in the introductory/embedded clause. Remember that when the verb in the introductory clause is in the past form, the one in the clause it introduces should also normally be past. But when it is present, the other one too should be present:
The President, he says, will be in Port Harcourt next week. (Correct)
The President, he said, will be in Port Harcourt next week. (Wrong)
The President, he said, would be in Port Harcourt the following week.
Because the past tense structure also affects the time indicated (through the adverb of time, with ‘next week’ changing to ‘the following week’ in the above statement), it may be smart to lay out the sentence in the present tense form to avoid confusion:
The man, she remarks, will be here tomorrow. (Instead of ‘The man, she remarked, would be here the day after’, if the action has yet to take place.)
Yet, even if you introduce the clause with the present tense (he says, they note, the police claim etc.), if the action in the original sentence has taken place, the verb (in the introduced/original clause) should remain past:
Buhari travelled to London in 2017. (A known fact, already happened.)
Buhari, he said, travelled to London in 2017. (Correct)
Buhari, he says, travels to London in 2017. (Wrong)
Buhari, he says, travelled to London in 2017. (Correct)
Other uses of the comma
Remember that the comma is also used in listing items in a sentence:
They deliberated on three issues: security, border closure, inflation.
Buy me four things for Christmas: a phone, a beautiful dress, a Gucci bag and a small car.
To separate conjuncts from the main clause:
However, I did not meet him.
Moreover, other things must be put in place.
Nevertheless, I remain loyal.
To separate phrases, subordinate clauses from the main clause:
Inside the house, they kept arguing about what to do.
Whenever I got there, she looked at me in a way I didn’t like.
To separate days from months in dates:
Sanwo-Olu visited them on June 12, 2020.
The chairman has scheduled the meeting for January 8, 2020.
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