“For example” between commas in the middle of a sentence has a different meaning

Question

Grammarly is telling me I should put commas before and after "for example" when it comes in the middle of the sentence, but I don't think so. Let's take a look at some examples.

The party doesn't need to be expensive. We can use some accessories from last year for example, and invite only fifty people.

The above sentence is ok for me with only one comma, but not for Grammarly. Now, let's see when I think "for example" must be between commas.

I understand you hate parties. You could choose not to go, for example, if it wasn't your mother's party.

As you can see, if the second clause is the condition for something to happen, we must use commas before and after "for example".

Am I wrong?

Answer 1

I believe that the reason why Grammarly is wanting you to put another comma in your sentence is because of the Oxford comma. When writing a sentence, it is technically grammatically correct to utilize it when there is an "and" right after a point.

Grammarly states: "On Monday we’ll see the Eiffel Tower, and on Tuesday we’ll visit the Louvre." The sentence above contains two independent clauses (highlighted in green), so it requires a comma before and. (By the way, you can tell they’re independent clauses because each one could stand on its own as a complete sentence.)

It also states: By the way, this rule only applies to lists of three or more items. You should not use a comma before and if you’re only mentioning two qualities.

INCORRECT : The dog is well trained, and good natured. CORRECT : The dog is well trained and good natured.

"The party doesn't need to be expensive. We can use some accessories from last year, for example, and invite only fifty people."

By putting the comma before and after "for example", it makes it that it is removable and unnecessary. Which in this case, without fighting Grammarly, you may want to decide to remove the "for example" entirely. The sentence flows better without the "for example".

You can find the link here: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma-before-and/

Hope that clarifies a bit.