Essential and Nonessential Elements
In this lesson, you will learn to
- Understand the distinction between essential and nonessential elements in sentences.
- Recognize when a noun or noun phrase is essential to the meaning of a sentence and when it is an additional detail.
On the Digital SAT, you will sometimes need to use logical reasoning to decide whether it makes sense to set off information from the rest of the sentence with punctuation.
You should be especially careful when dealing with titles such as "doctor", "journalist", and "author" when they appear next to names.
✅ Because of increasing traffic, Miami's mayor, Francis Suarez, has unveiled a comprehensive plan to modernize public transportation.
In the above example, "Francis Suarez" could be removed, and the sentence would still make sense.
Because "Miami's mayor" specifically identifies a unique individual, the name "Francis Suarez" is extra (nonessential) information and can be set off by commas.
❌ Because of increasing traffic, mayor, Francis Suarez, has unveiled a comprehensive plan to modernize public transportation.
In this example, "Francis Suarez" is an essential element—one that cannot be removed without affecting the coherence of the sentence. Just saying "mayor" without specifying a city or context doesn't clearly identify who is being referred to.
❌ During the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony, African American actor, Chadwick Boseman received posthumous acclaim for his performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
✅ During the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony, African American actor Chadwick Boseman received posthumous acclaim for his performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
"Actor" is a title describing "Chadwick Boseman", so there is no need for any punctuation after it.
Keep going
The rest of this lesson is open to students with an access code.