Komma – Ikke her, tak!

I engelsk bruges overvejende pausekommatering og ikke grammatisk kommatering, som man kan gøre på dansk. Det betyder, at der ikke er komma i de følgene seks situationer:

1) Mellem grundled og udsagnsled, når de står ved siden af hinanden. Dårligt: Medical students and first-year residents, participated in the writing course. Godt: Medical students and first-year residents participated in the writing course.

2) Efter et udsagnsled, der indleder en opremsning. Dårligt: The factors shaping doctor’s willingness to participate in continuing medical education are, years since education, perceived need, personal ambition and costs. Godt: The factors shaping doctors’ willingness to participate in continuing medical education are years since education, perceived need, personal ambition and costs.

3) Mellem helsætninger i stedet for et bindeord eller et punktum. Dårligt: The patient was admitted to the department, he underwent surgery, luckily, he recovered immediately. Godt: The patient was admitted to the department. He underwent surgery and, luckily, recovered immediately.

4) Mellem helsætninger, der knyttes sammen med et bindeord, hvis der står et biord i starten af den anden sætning. Dårligt: The department decided to participate in the language course, however they were struggling to understand grammar. Godt: The department decided to participate in the language course; however, they were struggling to understand grammar. Her er det bedst at bruge semikolon mellem helsætningerne, fordi der skal være et komma efter biordet (however).

5) Omkring definerende ledsætninger. Dårligt: Nurses, who were carefully trained, were expert clinical teachers. Godt: Nurses who were carefully trained were expert clinical teachers. I sætningen med kommaer er alle sygeplejerskerne dygtige til at lære fra sig. I den uden kommaer er de dygtige til at lære fra sig, fordi de er grundigt uddannede. Denne regel gælder også, når en definerende ledsætning indledes med et stedord (that).

6) Mellem rangordnede tillægsord, dvs. tillægsord som skal komme i en bestemt rækkefølge. Denne regel er lidt vanskelig, fordi det kan være svært at afgøre, om tillægsord er rang- eller sideordnede. Et eksempel kan illustrere det. Dårligt: Insert the narrow, white, plastic tube into the device. Godt: Insert the narrow white plastic tube into the device. Her skal der ikke være kommaer mellem tillægsordene, for de er rangordnede, og man kan ikke erstatte kommaet med and. Det ville lyde forkert at sige Insert the narrow and white and plastic tube into the device!

Hvad kan du gøre? Husk at man på engelsk overvejende bruger pausekomma, så der er kun komma, hvor man holder en naturlig pause i sætningen. Der er færre kommaer end i dansk og aldrig mellem sætningens vigtigste led.

Øvelse: Ret kommafejl i nedenstående eksempler og angiv regel: 1. Unabsorbable, synthetic meshes are associated with a risk of intestinal fistulas as well as susceptibility to infection. 2. Following the public debacle the EMEA claimed, that it was not an institution capable of being sued under Article 230 of the EU. 3. The samples submitted to the laboratory 4 weeks ago, that we received only today, were all of poor quality. 4. Expensive labour-intensive studies are required to elucidate this matter. 5. The titles, that medical professionals hold differ, the complexity of their duties is however often the same

Svarmuligheder. 1. Unabsorbable synthetic (ikke komma mellem rangordnede tillægsord) meshes are associated with a risk of intestinal fistulas as well as susceptibility to infection 2. Following the public debacle, (indsæt komma) the EMEA claimed that  (ikke komma før that/definerende ledsætning) it was not an institution capable of being sued under Article 230 of the EU. 2. The samples submitted to the laboratory 4 weeks ago that (ikke komma før that/definerende ledsætning) we received only today were (ikke komma mellem grundled og udsagnsled) all of poor quality. 4. Expensive, labour-intensive (komma mellem sideordnede tillægsord) studies are required to elucidate this matter. 5. The titles that (ikke komma før that/definerende ledsætning) medical professionals hold differ; (ikke komma men semikolon mellem to hovedsætninger om samme emne) the complexity of their duties is, however, (komma omkring indskudte, kommenterende led) often the same.