Utah was staying about 30 miles away from Spokane, where Monday’s game took place, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho , and was relocated to a different hotel on Friday.
Can the comma after “place”
be removed?
Thanks.
1 Like
I believe you need the comma. “In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho”, refers all the way back to “Utah was staying”. Without the comma , the phrase is too closely related to “Spokane” and “where Monday’s game took place”.
I think an even better solution would be:
Utah was staying in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, about 30 miles away from Spokane where Monday’s game took place, and was relocated to a different hotel on Friday.
-
To me, it cannot be removed because “Where Monday’s game took place” is a non-defining clause.
-
If it is removed, it would mean that there is more than one Spokane.
If there was more than one Spokane, it would require a definite article. Without the article, I don’t think there is any confusion. As a stand alone sentence I think it’s fine without the comma.
Utah was staying about 30 miles away from Spokane where Monday’s game took place.
Or you could reword it.
Utah was staying about 30 miles [away] from where Monday’s game took place in Spokane.
When I was young we used a lot more commas. But the use of commas seems to be disappearing, even by the pros. Personally I use them a lot - whenever I “hear” a pause in my mind.
The original sentence should be broken into two sentences so it’s not so cumbersome.