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comma before 'of' [preposition]: Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of

HyeeWang

Senior Member
Chinese
Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist.

Excuse! Another question I want to submit is as follows!
Why add a "comma" between "Bonn" and "of the ..."?
Please explain it in some grammar rule sense ...!
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Just to add to add to what AlabamaBoy has said: the comma makes it clear that of the Electorate of Cologne refers to Bonn and not to Beethoven. I'm surprised it isn't in the Electorate of Cologne.
Thank you!
I am sorry that I still did not get what you two said.
In my humble opion, Bonn must be a subsection of Electorate of Cologne ,also a town of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation!
So I rephrase that sentence as follows!
Born in Bonn of the Electorate of Cologne , which ( Bonn) is a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist.
Hello HyeeWang,

I don't think we've helped you. This would be better:

Born in Bonn, in the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, in present-day Germany, he moved...
Born in Bonn, of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist.

Hello. I am puzzled with this sentence.
What does "of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany" act as in this sentecnce?
Why no any "word" before "of"? It seems to have omitted sth.
In my memory, I encountered similar sentence before and asked. But I forget whether I got the answer. Anyway, I puzzled again.
cheers
context: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven
Bonn was part of the Electorate of Cologne. In fact, at that time, it was the capital.
The part you have marked in red consists of two phrases telling us about Bonn.
"of the Electorate of Cologne ...." is a prepositional phrase acting as a modifier describing Bonn.

a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany is a phrase in apposition to Bonn. It is an appositional phrase, because it renames Bonn, using different words [a part]. In a very abbreviated form, it would be "Bonn, a part of the Holy Roman empire."
​
I wonder whether the thread you are thinking of is this one:
which discusses this sentence: Emperor Tàizǔ, born Zhao Kuangyin, was the founder ....

In that thread, entangledbank describes "born Zhao Kuangyin" as a special kind of modifier, special because it must follow the noun. This prepositional phrase works the same way.

The difference between a true appositive and a modifier that follows the noun is discussed in that thread. You have one of each in your sentence.
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Thank you! Cagey.
You said, "of the Electorate of Cologne ...." is a prepositional phrase acting as a modifier describing Bonn. "a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany" is a phrase in apposition to Bonn.
But How can the 2 phrases be connected by "and" directly? They are not in the same category.

How about this?
Born in Bonn, which is of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist.
Oh. Thank you help me find my previous thread.
In that thread [Born in Bonn (comma) ...],I asked the almost same question. Thomas replaced "of" with "in" and made sense of that sentence.

But...

But using that explanation, it is still difficult for me to slove the next similar question,if any.
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