Commas with adjectives and which/that/who clauses

Commas with adjectives

When two adjectives are coordinate, they describe the same noun equally. For example:

It was a rainy night.

It was a windy night.

Both of these sentences tell us about the kind of night it was, and it doesn’t matter which adjective comes first:

It was a rainy, windy night.

It was a windy, rainy night.

Two tests tell you whether adjectives are coordinate: you can swap them, or you can put and between them (a rainy and windy night), and the sentence still sounds right. If both tests work, use a comma.

When two adjectives are not coordinate, do not use a comma between them. For example, compare the following two sentences:

CORRECT: Barb drives a big gray truck.

INCORRECT: Barb drives a gray big truck.

Most English speakers know intuitively that size comes before color because they have internalized the order of adjective categories. We simply do not say, Barb drives a gray big truck.

If you are not a native English speaker, or if comma rules just make you nervous, memorizing the OSASCOMP acronym below can help. It tells you the order of adjectives that are not coordinate and do not get separated by commas. Keep in mind that the rules are not entirely rigid and that some variation is permitted.

Category	Examples
Opinion	ugly, important, amazing
Size	big, little, miniature
Age	young, elderly, antique
Shape	oval, round, boxy
Color	red, green, purple
Origin	French, Nigerian, Chicago
Material	wool, silk, wood
Purpose	wedding, winter, running

Here are some examples of sentences with lists of noncoordinate adjectives. There are no commas separating the adjectives.

Gilda wore a pair of beautiful petite antique pearl earrings.

Harold was extremely attached to his ugly old black fur hat.

Maria wore a charming little vintage red silk dress.

Tom loved his new red running shoes.

Practice question

It was a cold windy day, but small pink buds on the dogwood trees promised better weather to come.

Choose the correct answer:

a. NO CHANGE
b. It was a cold, windy, day, but small pink buds on the dogwood trees promised better weather to come.
c. It was a cold, windy day, but small pink buds on the dogwood trees promised better weather to come.
d. It was a cold windy day, but small, pink buds on the dogwood trees promised better weather to come.
e. It was a cold windy day, but pink, small buds on the dogwood trees promised better weather to come.

Correct answer:

Commas with which/that/who

Which indicates that the information coming up is non-essential. This means that a clause that begins with which needs to be set off from the main clause of the sentence with commas:

Her coat, which was purple, was difficult to spot among the brightly colored coats of her classmates.

Which was purple is a non-essential clause because the information it adds to the sentence is only a detail. Without it, the sentence still works:

Her coat was difficult to spot among the brightly colored coats of her classmates.

Clauses that begin with that are not preceded by commas. They contain essential information that, if removed, changes the meaning of the sentence.

I have a special playlist that only contains songs about sunshine.

I have a special playlist.

Without the clause, we no longer know which playlist the speaker means. The clause identifies it, so it is essential.

Here’s a summary of the difference between which clauses and that clauses:

• Which clauses usually contain non-essential information, and then they are set off with commas. (After a preposition, which can begin an essential clause: the shelf on which she kept her trophies.)
• That clauses contain essential information and are not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

Practice question

At the animal shelter, Tanya quickly became enamored of a puppy with big brown eyes and fur, that was softer than the softest cotton sheets.

Choose the correct answer:

a. NO CHANGE
b. At the animal shelter, Tanya quickly became enamored of a puppy with big brown eyes and fur that was softer than the softest cotton sheets.
c. At the animal shelter, Tanya quickly became enamored of a puppy, with big brown eyes and fur that was softer than the softest cotton sheets.
d. At the animal shelter, Tanya quickly became enamored of a puppy with big brown eyes and fur that, was softer than the softest cotton sheets.
e. At the animal shelter, Tanya quickly became enamored of a puppy with big brown eyes, and fur that was softer than the softest cotton sheets.

Correct answer:

Who clauses are a little more challenging because you have to determine whether they are essential or non-essential before deciding whether they need commas.

This book will appeal to people who are fans of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Here, the who clause contains essential information, so there is no comma before it. Without it, we would not know which people the book will appeal to: This book will appeal to people.

Here is a sentence with a who clause that contains non-essential information:

Jared, who could never resist a prank, had been planning his April Fool’s Day tricks for two weeks.

Removing the who clause leaves us with:

Jared had been planning his April Fool’s Day tricks for two weeks.

This sentence is both grammatical and complete. The who clause adds detail about Jared, but it is not necessary.

Practice question

Theresa has decided to only date people, who do not use scented products or have pets, because she has such bad allergies. Her last date, who was covered in dog hair, made her sinuses run like a flooding river.

Choose the correct answer:

a. NO CHANGE
b. Theresa has decided to only date people who do not use scented products or have pets because she has such bad allergies. Her last date who was covered in dog hair made her sinuses run like a flooding river.
c. Theresa has decided to only date people, who do not use scented products or have pets because she has such bad allergies. Her last date who was covered in dog hair made her sinuses run like a flooding river.
d. Theresa has decided to only date people, who do not use scented products or have pets, because she has such bad allergies. Her last date who was covered in dog hair made her sinuses run like a flooding river.
e. Theresa has decided to only date people who do not use scented products or have pets because she has such bad allergies. Her last date, who was covered in dog hair, made her sinuses run like a flooding river.

Correct answer: