Quick Grammar question Forum

[Emma.]

Can someone help me with this? Not a PS issue but seemed like the best place for this kind of question:

"I met with your colleague John Doe who spoke very highly of your work"

Commas before and after John Doe??

[fusac8]

yep absolutely.

edit: ps it's called an apposition in case you want to look it up.

[thecilent]

Commas before and after is your best bet

[Emma.]

Thanks guys.

[verklempt]

I would not use commas. In this sentence, I don't see "colleague" and "John Doe" as appositives. Rather, "colleague" serves as a straight modifier of "John Doe" and does not need commas. A few illustrative examples:

I went to talk to Senator Jane Doe about the bill being discussed.

I talked to a senator, Jane Doe, about the bill being discussed.

It's subtle, but it depends on what you are emphasizing. From my perspective, the emphasis is that John Doe is a colleague (no comma) not that you met with a colleague, a person by the name of John Doe (commas).

Bottom line: it's a nitpick of a choice; neither is wrong or ungrammatical.