Hi,

Is this correct: If you were to write in a sentence, he was a quiet, unassuming family man.

Does that comma need to come before unassuming?


Thank you.

Either with or without a comma could be correct:

There are two ways of punctuating multiple modifiers, depending on the intended meaning:

1. STACKING, (no comma(s)):

"He was a quiet unassuming family man".

There are three 'layers' of modification here. "Man" is first modified by "family" to give "family man", and this in turn is modified by "unassuming" to give "unassuming family man". Finally "unassuming family man" is modified by "quiet" to give "quiet unassuming family man" where the final meaning is that this man was "quiet" by the standards applicable to unassuming family men.


2. COORDINATION, (with comma(s)):

"He was a quiet, unassuming family man".

Strictly speaking, there is some stacking here too, in that "unassuming" and "family" with no comma between them are stacked modifiers, just as they are in 1. above. Nevertheless, the final result is one of two coordinated adjective phrases where the meaning is that this man was of the "unassuming family" kind, AND he was "quiet"; in other words, there are two quite distinct and separate properties attributable to him.

Can you see the subtle difference in the two meanings?


PaulM