Grammar/Punctuation Help

[MASHomeschooler]

My daughter wrote this sentence:

It is home to the Liberty Bell, which would be cool to see in person.

 

The grader said the comma should be left out. That seems completely wrong to me. Can anyone help with which is actually correct, and why? Thanks!

[purpleowl]

The comma is correct. "Which would be cool to see in person" is nonrestrictive--you can remove it without affecting the meaning of the noun it's attached to (Liberty Bell). Nonrestrictive clauses and phrases are set off with commas.

 

If it were restrictive, that clause would be required in order to specify which Liberty Bell she was talking about--the one "which would be cool to see in person." That's not necessary in this sentence.

 

Here's another example of restrictive/nonrestrictive:

 

John's brother who is a dentist will be at the party. In this sentence, "who is a dentist" is restrictive: John has more than one brother, and the one who will be at the party is the one who is a dentist. Saying only "John's brother will be at the party" leaves ambiguity about which brother you mean. Since it is necessary to restrict the noun, "who is a dentist" is not set off by commas.

 

vs.

 

John's brother, who is a dentist, will be at the party. In this version, "who is a dentist" is nonrestrictive: John has only one brother, so saying simply "John's brother will be at the party" is just as clear. Since "who is a dentist" is not necessary to restrict the noun "brother," it is set off with commas.

[MASHomeschooler]

Thanks; I thought so! I questioned it to the teacher, and she replied that no comma was correct. She also sent a worksheet for her to practice commas, which does include examples of using commas in nonrestrictive clauses, although it doesn't use the term. I think I'm going to ask to switch teachers since, in three (small) assignments, she's only told her two things to "improve", and one was this. She also missed an actual extra comma in another assignment!