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Hello, kindly help me with this:
Is a comma mandatory before 'ready' in the following sentence?

It was finally a "dream come true" when they bought their first catamaran ready to sail the Caribbean waters from South Africa.

I feel this is one continuous sentence and the comma is not only unnecessary but also an error. The statement from ready is not parenthetical and, thus, no need for the comma. What do you think about this?

It was finally a "dream come true" when they bought their first catamaran ready to sail the Caribbean waters from South Africa.

Hi,

If I’ve read this sentence correctly, it seems that “ready to sail the Caribbean waters from South Africa” is an infinitive phrase functioning as an adjective. The question is what is the adjective modifying: the catamaran or the people?

If it is referring to the catamaran, no comma is needed.
If it is referring to the people, a comma is needed to clarify it is “they” who are ready to sail.

Point 8 in this link is a great discussion on when to use a comma with free modifiers: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... ommas.html

Here is a link on infinitives:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... tives.html

Did I parse your sentence correctly? Does this explanation fit?

MsH2k summed it up perfectly. It just depends on what word in that sentence is “ready.” As a writer, you can use the comma or omit it to convey that. As a reader, I instinctively preferred the inclusion of a comma, but that is because I interpreted the readiness to describe “they” and not “catamaran.” It just depends on what you’re trying to convey though.