Question

which of the following sentences correctly uses commas to set off additional information? select the best answer.

answer

• the actor wore a long white robe, that made him look like a ghost.
• the actor wore a long white robe, which made him look like a ghost.
• the actor, wore a long white robe that made him look like a ghost.

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Non-essential Relative Clauses
Using commas to set off extra information.

Step 1: Understand non-essential vs. essential information

When adding extra, non-essential information to a sentence (information that can be removed without changing the core meaning of the sentence), we set it off with commas.

• "Which" clauses are typically non-essential (non-restrictive) and require a comma before them.
• "That" clauses are essential (restrictive) to the meaning of the sentence and should not be set off by commas.

Step 2: Analyze the options

• Option 1: "The actor wore a long white robe, that made him look like a ghost."
• Incorrect: A comma should not be placed before a restrictive "that" clause.
• Option 2: "The actor wore a long white robe, which made him look like a ghost."
• Correct: The clause starting with "which" adds extra, non-essential information about the robe and is correctly preceded by a comma.
• Option 3: "The actor, wore a long white robe that made him look like a ghost."
• Incorrect: This places a single comma incorrectly between the subject ("The actor") and the verb ("wore").

Answer:

The actor wore a long white robe, which made him look like a ghost.