Is the sentence The suspect, who was fleeing, dropped the weapon correctly punctuated?

Prepare for the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Entrance Exam. Engage with quizzes, detailed explanations, and practical tips to excel in your exam efforts. Ready yourself for the test effectively!

Multiple Choice

Is the sentence The suspect, who was fleeing, dropped the weapon correctly punctuated?

Nonrestrictive relative clauses add extra information and are set off by commas. In this sentence, “who was fleeing” describes the suspect but isn’t needed to identify which suspect is being talked about. The main idea is that the suspect dropped the weapon, and the additional detail about fleeing is simply extra information. That’s exactly why the clause is enclosed with commas on both sides, producing a natural, correct flow: The suspect, who was fleeing, dropped the weapon. If there were multiple suspects and the fleeing detail was needed to identify which one, you’d write it without the commas: The suspect who was fleeing dropped the weapon.

Nonrestrictive relative clauses add extra information and are set off by commas. In this sentence, “who was fleeing” describes the suspect but isn’t needed to identify which suspect is being talked about. The main idea is that the suspect dropped the weapon, and the additional detail about fleeing is simply extra information. That’s exactly why the clause is enclosed with commas on both sides, producing a natural, correct flow: The suspect, who was fleeing, dropped the weapon.

If there were multiple suspects and the fleeing detail was needed to identify which one, you’d write it without the commas: The suspect who was fleeing dropped the weapon.

More practice questions