a billion people, two-thirds of them women, will enter the 21st century unable to read a book or write their names,” warns UNICEF in a new report, “The State of the World’s Children 1999.”
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, points out that the illiterate “live in more desperate poverty and poorer health” than those who can read and write. The shocking number — 1 billion people illiterate — generated frightening headlines in major newspapers.
Poverty in the poorest countries is indeed something that ought to concern all of us, especially in a season when we pause to remember the less fortunate. But as usual, there’s more to this striking statistic than UNICEF tells us. Consider three points.
The Good News. Bad news sells, news watchers tell us. And 1 billion people unable to read and write — about 16 percent of world population — is certainly bad news. But let’s deconstruct the news.
First, UNICEF’s actual number is 855 million, a figure that did not appear in major newspapers. That’s still a large number, but it is 15 percent less than 1 billion.
You should place commas around a phrase the at adds additional information to the sentence, but which is not necessary.
1)<span>Tanna president of the National Honor Society truly enjoys volunteer work.
this part is not necessary, so commas are required before and after it
2) The old house, that my father grew up in, is being completely renovated.
here the commas are unnecessary! that's because we need the information in boldface to identify the house
4) </span><span><span>My sister, who is a waitress at Billy’s Big Burger Shack, is sixteen years old.</span>
this is a correctly punctuated sentence - the information about being a waitress is additional.
5) The bird that built a nest in the oak tree, appears to have an injured wing.
here either the commas should be removed, or another comma added after "bird"
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this is false. interviews are not only face to face
