Our party will be held in the cafeteria which, for those of you who are unaware, is located inside the Students' Union.
Should the first comma go before which or after?
commas
Our party will be held in the cafeteria which, for those of you who are unaware, is located inside the Students' Union.
Should the first comma go before which or after?
Best Answer
Your existing sentence, with the comma after which, is fine.
In this case you're using commas to indicate an aside, or a parenthetical phrase - something that is not essential to the understanding of the sentence. The sentence:
...would be fine and comprehensible by itself. The added phrase:
...is an aside, a parenthetical phrase which adds some context and depth, but is not essential for understanding.
Stylistically, it may be helpful to ALSO have a comma before the which, to separate the two clauses, but without the parenthetical:
I'd imagine it's this usage which is tripping you up. However, the comma before the which in this case is doing a totally different job. It's separating the declaration of the party's site from the declaration of that site's location. Both parts would make reasonable sentences:
Combining them into one is absolutely fine, but it is helpful to use a comma to separate the two clauses.
You COULD have commas both before and after:
That would be correct, but feels awkward. You CANNOT have just a comma before:
This does not work.
An alternative might be to use a different mark to indicate the aside. A dash or actual parenthesis could work there:
This avoids the awkward double comma, while still picking out the parenthetical phrase.