Wanda VanGoor's explanation of commas and "because" clauses is very interesting: > If the "because" clause gives a REASON, no comma is needed. If the > "because"clause gives evidence (not reason), use a comma. > > Mrs. VG has gone home because she became ill. > > Mrs. VG has gone home, because her car is not in the parking lot. Another way of saying the same thing is: If the adverbial clause modifies just the verb phrase (as in the first example), no comma is needed. If the clause modifies the entire main clause, it takes a comma. Still another way of looking at the second example is to posit an underlying/understood "I know that" introduction: [I know that] Mrs. VG has gone home, because her car is not in the parking lot. In this case, the "because" clause is modifying the understood verb "know," rather than the spoken verb "has gone home." That is, in the first example, she went home because... In the second, I know it because... As I said, this is really interesting data. Dick Veit UNCW English Department