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I've been placing the comma in this sentence back and forth for a while now and I'm still not sure where to best place it.

The sentence is: The worst-case scenario is that X happens.

I feel like a comma would be very fitting here, but I'm unsure where.

  • The worst-case scenario, is that X happens.

or

  • The worst-case scenario is, that X happens.
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1 Answer 1

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I would remove the comma completely. It's not required. Neither clause can exist on their own with your placements of the comma.

Replacing the commas with full stops makes this a little clearer.

  1. The worst case scenario. Is that X happens.
  2. The worse case scenario is. That X happens.
  1. The first sentence is missing a verb and an object.
  2. The second sentence is missing a subject. The first sentence, though grammatical, is semantically wrong.

You should be able to replace the commas with full stops (and potentially restore an ellipsis)

The page displayed a list of vegetables, ordered by color
My original example was bad, the comma was optional.

The comma here can be replaced with a full stop to form two sentences. Context is still required for the second sentence, but part of the sentence can be removed to avoid repetition.

My original example was bad. The comma [in that example] was optional.

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