The Minister was conveyed to Singapore General Hospital where he remained for two weeks.
Is a comma after “Hospital” needed ?
Thanks.
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Could someone please help? Thanks.
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As far as I know there is no hard rule for this and both choices are possible. I personally wouldn’t use a comma here. I would be interested to hear what @Alan, @Anglophile and @Andrea have to say though.
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Yes, a comma after ‘hospital’ is required. In the absence of the comma (Restrictive Clause), it will mean that Singapore has more than one General Hospital, and that the writer means the hospital where the minister remained for two weeks. So, the comma will obviate any such confusion. That’s my view.
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Many thanks, Torsten and Anglophile.
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I don’t think a comma is necessary here. “Singapore General Hospital” is the name of the hospital.
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I’m confused as to which the correct answer is.
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There are no hard rules when it comes to commas. There are only style guides, newspapers, (especially broadsheets), dictionaries, encyclopedias and other publications. The English speaking world allows for a lot of freedom with few hard rules. This is reflected in their language. Out of the top ten most widely used languages in the world English is the only one that does not have an official guiding institution that sets the rules for punctuation, grammar, etc. That’s why English is by far the most widely used language for international and global communication, collaboration, information and knowledge transfer and democratization of resources.
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Many thanks for the information, Torsten.
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You are welcome, my friend. Please do continue sharing your thoughts and questions.
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The comma would not be needed here because ‘where’ in this sentence acts as a defining relative suggesting ‘at which’.
Alan
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Many thanks, Alan, for your reply.
But does the fact that Singapore has only one Singapore General Hospital necessitate the comma next to Hospital in my first post above?
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