In the following sentence, what is the comma rule for the last comma posted in it?

Question

A Boston-bound American Airlines jet with 240 passengers and 13 crew aboard returned to London's Heathrow airport on Monday over a security issue, but there was no threat to the aircraft, the company said.

", the company said," why exactly is there a comma placed before this? I'm starting to understand comma rules, but what's with this one?

Answer 1

A sentence-ending participial phrase should be preceded by a comma--unless the participial phrase has a restrictive function.

Answer 2

You can reword the sentence with the use of commas. You can either have the sentence as it is, or as, "The company said a Boston-bound American Airlines jet with 240 passengers and 13 crew aboard returned to London's Heathrow airport over a security issue, but there was no threat to the aircraft". You can also subtract anything between commas... so you could essentially end the sentence with "aircraft." and omit "the company said".

Answer 3

Remember, also, that commas are to prevent ambiguity and miscommunication. "...,but there was no threat to the aircraft the company said," sounds awkward, as you would naturally pause before reading "the company said." In most instances, commas should appear where a natural pause in speech would occur. Of course, that's with the understanding that people are fluent speakers and readers, and we know the reality is -- that's not always the case. That's why it's important to understand the rules (as you are interested in doing), although they can be tedious, at times, to learn. We just need to keep telling ourselves that commas really can reduce confusion, thus enhacing clarity for the reader.

Answer 4

This is an interesting one. Several of the previous answers almost get it right, but none of them quite hits it on the head.

(1) Understand right off: this is not a participial phrase, A comma is used to set off a participial phrase separated from the word it modifies (or for that matter following the word it modifies):

Ex: The man muttered that he was very puzzled, stroking his chin and wrinkling his brow.

Ex: The man, stroking his chin and wrinkling his brow, muttered that he was very puzzled.

(2) Commas are used to set off tag lines from direct quotations in written dialogue:

Ex: "I am very puzzled," the man muttered.

But in your sentence there is no direct quotation.

(3) Though readers usually do pause when there is a comma in a sentence, that is not a rule for placing the comma there. Because commas ususally set off grammatical structures that call for a slight pause in reading (or to be more technically accurate a certain change in intonation), the myth has grown up that such a pause is the rule for a comma.

The real rule here is that the writer may suggest to the reader a more dramatic pause by using dashes instead of commas.

Ex: The red-faced, bearded man in the balcony, muttering and swearing under his breath, caught the attention of everyone, including the head usher.

The commas in this sentence are used to set off partipial phrases coming after the "man" and "everyone," the words they modify.

Now notice, if the writer wants to emphasize different phrases for effect:

Ex: The red-faced, bearded man in the balcony--muttering and swearing under his breath--caught the attention of everyone, including the head usher.

Ex: The red-faced, bearded man in the balcony, muttering and swearing under his breath, caught the attention of everyone--including the head usher.

Some writers (I'm one of them) tend to overuse such dashes for effect, but the point is that in such situations commas set off the grammatical elements, thus signaling a slight pause. Dashes are used to signal a more dramatic pause.

(4) Commas are used to set off grammatical elements that interrupt the sentence/clause or are placed at the end of the sentence when normal word order would have them at the beginning (as Rachel O almost said, but not quite).

Ex: The company said [that] there was no threat to the aircraft. [normal order for a s-v-o; in this case the object is an indirect quotation]

Ex: There was no threat to the aircraft, the company said. [s-v withheld to the end of the clause, probably to focus attention on the quotation itself, as is often the case in journalistic reports]

Notice that if this were a direct quotation, the tag line would require commas no matter where it appeared.

Ex: The president of the company said, "No, there was absolutely no threat to the aircraft at any time."

Ex: "No," the president said, "there was absolutely no threat to the aircraft at any time."

Ex: "No, there was absolutely no threat to the aircraft," the president said, "at any time."

Ex: "No, there was absolutely no threat to the aircraft at any time," the president said.

Get it? Now you've got it.

And, by the way, you are taking exactly the right approach to mastering comma rules. Memorizing them from rule books usually won't cut it. Noticing and explaining them in prose you read, then learning how to punctuate exactly the same kind of structures yourself--now, that will do it. [See, I am a dash man! Can you figure out the reason for the dash and the commas in this passage.]

Later:
By the way, Emmavoberry and English 101 were posted while I was drafting this response, so i do not refer to them.

Answer 5

"toward the end of a sentence to mark a distinct pause or shift"--from OWL Purdue(online writing lab). The shift I see is the shift from the report of what was said to who said it. I so far can't find any other rule that fits. The "company said" part is not a participial phrase and I don't see that "nonessential" really comes into it.

Answer 6

It's a very poorly composed sentence, but, back to your question: the writer wanted you to pause, and hopefully think, before you read "the company said."
When you figure out comma rules, please let me know. There are ones etched in stone that are routinely ignored. My practice, which has proved quite successful, is: If it sounds like it needs one when you read it back to yourself, stick one in. It's better than a run-on sentence.

Answer 7

you will quote the words before it becuase "the company said" so there will be a comma before, company said.

kinda like this, "we went to the store," John said.

Did you know there are 40 something comma rules??? GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

Answer 8

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