comma indicating ellipsis: John was the manager, and Mary, the clerk

[arjun78]

Hello,

I have a question on comma usage while avoiding the repetition of verbs.

John was the manager and Mary the clerk. (1)

John was the manager, and Mary the clerk.

John was the manager, and Mary, the clerk. (comma after Mary for pause, downside: too many commas)

Which is better - 1, 2, or 3?

Arjun

 

[panjandrum]

I could argue for any of them but I would write:
John was the manager; Mary, the clerk.

In (3) the second comma marks the missing "was". See "gapping comma" at http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node00.html

In (2) the comma is a linking comma (same source).

(1) follows a quite normal pattern of omitting commas in simple sentences when the meaning is absolutely clear without them.

Edit: There are several useful sites about punctuation listed in the sticky at the top of this forum:

 

[e2efour]

Your third sentence doesn't work. If "was" is understood, you can't have a comma after Mary.
If you join two sentences with and, you don't need a comma, which is why I slightly prefer sentence 1. I would write "John was the manager, while Mary was the clerk" or "John was the manager and Mary was the clerk".

 

[arjun78]

Your third sentence doesn't work. If "was" is understood, you can't have a comma after Mary.
If you join two sentences with and, you don't need a comma, which is why I slightly prefer sentence 1. I would write "John was the manager, while Mary was the clerk" or "John was the manager and Mary was the clerk".

The comma replaces 'was.' At least, that is my understanding.

 

[e2efour]

I think the punctuation in this sentence is awful:
"John was the manager, and Mary, the clerk."

According to Panjandrum's reference, the "gapping comma" comma should be left out when it is not strictly necessary and when the meaning is clear.

I don't understand what purpose the comma serves.

 

[panjandrum]

There is a kind of unwritten rule of punctuation.
When the application of every possible rule to insert commas creates a sentence that is awful, leave some of them out. If leaving some of them out creates ambiguity, re-write the sentence.