When referencing a book in a written paper, do I place a commas after the author’s name and before the book title? For instance, here’s the passage the question arose from:
“It is with these conventions that Bevin Alexander’s How Wars Are Won, a book which discusses the nature of war, demonstrates the effectiveness of these conventions.”
So should it look like that, or like this:
“It is with these conventions that Bevin Alexander’s**,** How Wars Are Won, a book which discusses the nature of war, demonstrates the effectiveness of these conventions.”
I’ve never known of a place where you’d use a comma between a posessive and the noun, and this is no exception. You should definitely use the first one.
Also, use italics for book titles instead of underlines. Underlines are for people with typewriters.
“Had the passage lacked this citation readers would be unsure of who exactly “school of thought” refers to and would likely be less receptive of the author’s perspective.”
Or
“Had the passage lacked this citation, readers would be unsure of who exactly “school of thought” refers to and would likely be less receptive of the author’s perspective.”
I’m fairly positive the former is correct, but after yesterday’s lesson, I’m seriously questioning all knowledge I have regarding commas.
No comma there. You may be confusing this with the rule that puts the author’s name, usually but not always preceded by by, within commas after the title, by way of abbreviated citation. Certainly one never needs to say, “War and Peace, by Count Leo Tolstoy, is deemed one of the classic Russian novels” – but “Scandinavian Myth and Toponymy, by Otto Jespersen, is a classic in its field” provides useful information about the cited volume.
As a general rule [comma here if you are so inclined] when the sentence requires a pause [comma here if you are so inclined] a comma should be used. In your example [comma here if so inclined] you have an introductory clause which [“that” here if you are so inclined] normally requires a comma.
Personally [comma here if so inclined] I would be inclined to use the comma [comma here if so inclined] if nothing else but to avoid confusion; moreover, there is a natural pause after “citation.” Without the comma [comma here if you are so inclined] one may have to reread the sentence to get the correct meaning. Having said that [comma here if so inclined] modern usage seems to eliminate commas in these situations. You cannot go wrong using the comma.
With words like “however” and “moreover” (note above paragraph) [comma here if so inclined] a comma must be used following the word and a semicolon before the word (or a new sentence used) in most cases.
I think commas are correct in both situations, unless different authors have used the same title, which not only is unlikely but probably illegal, unless the copyright expired.
Well, I’d take issue with your teacher, because the second one is clearly incorrect.
I mean, you wouldn’t say “I’ve heard that Pete’s, cat, is sick.” Would you? There’s no reason to separate the book title from the possessive, either. It makes no sense to do so.
The lack of a comma in your first example causes the person reading the sentence to stop for a moment, and think, “What are 'citation readers?” It needs the comma to give the reader a necessary clue about where that introductory clause ends.
(And BTW, it’s “receptive to,” not “receptive of.”)
Sorry for the confusion. My comment was relative to the OP – suggesting that no comma was appropriate after the author’s name in the usage “Fred Writer’s History of Elbonia” – I would most definitely use a comma after “citation” in Duderdude’s follow-up question, for clarity’s sake.
Not illegal or a basis for a lawsuit, unless the title was trademarked, which is relatively rare. Titles cannot be copyrighted. Cite. There are plenty of books with the same title.
That’s what I get for skimming the quote. Anyhow, in this day and age, italics are preferred. Underlined titles (on typewritten pages) would get turned into italics when typeset, anyway. Underlining is a typewriter convention (as has been mentioned.)
