Comma rules
This sentence is in a text I wrote about Brazil. My mistakes were corrected. I think the commas are required because I am specifying "president" with the word "the". Am I correct?

Last year this law came back into the headlines because the new president, Michel Temer, tried to eliminate the Ministry of Culture as one of the measures used to cut down the budget.

If I didn't want to use commas, could I rewrite like this?

Last year this law came back into the headlines because President Michel Temer tried to eliminate the Ministry of Culture as one of the measures used to cut down the budget.

Thanks!

Question

Comma rules
This sentence is in a text I wrote about Brazil. My mistakes were corrected. I think the commas are required because I am specifying "president" with the word "the". Am I correct?

Last year this law came back into the headlines because the new president,  Michel Temer, tried to eliminate the Ministry of Culture as one of the measures used to cut down the budget.

If I didn't want to use commas, could I rewrite like this?

Last year this law came back into the headlines because President Michel Temer tried to eliminate the Ministry of Culture as one of the measures used to cut down the budget.

Thanks!

Answer

You are correct. "Michel Temer" is non-defining, since "the new president" is already definite. I can understand how it might be a bit ambiguous in Portuguese, where you would use the definite article anyhow. (Although "new" would seem to clear up the ambiguity.)

Answer

You are correct, Leila! :) (Just na FYI, it should say "Am I correct?", and not "Am I corrected?")

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