comma [Grk kómma ‘that which is cut off, piece’]

The term ‘comment’ refers semantically to the part of an utterance that contains new information. Syntactically, in unmarked word order the comment refers to the predicate, while the subject is usually the topic, containing information which is contextually bound or already mentioned. The comment can also be identified by means of the question test, where the scope of the question refers to the focus of the corresponding natural (unmarked) answer, i.e. to the new information requested by the question; e.g. What did Philip buy himself?—A new car (he bought himself).