My son is so confused with the question on page page 58. The question is :
Ada Lovelace and her acquaintance, Charles Babbage, were two of the most influential figures in the history of computer science. After Babbage sketched out his ideas for an “analytical engine”’ Lovelace demonstrated that the machine might be able to carry out variety of complex tasks.
A. No change
B. acquaintance Charles Babbage
C. acquaintance Charles Babbage,
D. acquaintance,Charles Babbage
The answer is B, he thinks it should b A. Can you help explain why he is wrong?
One of the most important functions of the comma is to set off nonrestrictive or nonessential information.
I will give the document to my brother, Tom. (The writer has only one brother. The brother’s name is nonessential and therefore set off with a comma.) VERSUS I will give the document to my brother Tom. (The writer has more than one brother. In this case, the specific brother—Tom—is essential information and should not be set off with a comma.)
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter has been made into several movies. (Hawthorne wrote more than one novel.) VERSUS Nathaniel Hawthorne’s first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously in 1828. (Hawthorne had only one first novel.)
Ada Lovelace presumably had more than one acquaintance. Your son’s confusion is understandable. This is a very common “error,” but a pretty minor one in my book.
To summarize, it should only be in commas if the person reffered to is specific and already known
“The Current President of the United States, Barack Obama, …”
There is only ONE current president of the United States
But you can’t have it in commas if the person is unknown or general
" Ada Lovelace’s acquaintance…"
Which acquaintance? Did Lovelace have multiple acquaintances? If so how do we know which one she is referring to?
Putting Charles Babbage in commas would look like this (since commas make the stuff inside it NONESSENTIAL)
"Ada Lovelace and her acquaintance were two of the most influential figures in the history "
Makes no sense whatsoever because we have no idea who that acquaintance is
It is uncommon for ACT to give you the option of choosing between the answer with two commas (indicating non-essential information between the commas can be removed) and the answer with no commas, but it does happen. I tell my students that it is almost always the no comma option – simply because most students will choose one of the answers with commas. That obviously isn’t always the case in “the real world,” but in my years of coaching these tests, that has been the case.
Almost all my students would pick answer choice C or D over B because they are so convinced that every name/title combination has to have a comma. In actuality, though, the answer 99.9% of the time will either be the one with no commas or the one with 2 commas, and, as I said before, it’s much more likely to be the no comma option if both are offered. FWIW