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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Comma placement--weird.
Hi,
Merriam Webster has this sentence.
He thought about moving to the city, but in the end, decided to stay where he was.
Shouldn't this be
He thought about moving to the city but, in the end, decided to stay where he was.
Because if you take out what is between the commas, shouldn't you have a complete sentence? But if it is the first sentence, you have
He thought about moving to the city decided to stay where he was
which is not a compelte sentence.
What the deal here?
Merriam Webster has this sentence.
He thought about moving to the city, but in the end, decided to stay where he was.
Shouldn't this be
He thought about moving to the city but, in the end, decided to stay where he was.
Because if you take out what is between the commas, shouldn't you have a complete sentence? But if it is the first sentence, you have
He thought about moving to the city decided to stay where he was
which is not a compelte sentence.
What the deal here?
Top answer
He thought about moving to the city, but in the end , decided to stay where he was. -- No, the original is correct. We omit the comma before 'in' because it clutters.
- He thought about moving to the city, but in the end , decided to stay where he was.
- -- No, the original is correct.
- We omit the comma before 'in' because it clutters.
- Comma, conjunction, adverb, comma is permitted.
- -- No, not applicable here.
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6 Answers
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He thought about moving to the city, but in the end, decided to stay where he was.
Shouldn't this be 'He thought about moving to the city but, in the end, decided to stay where he was'.-- No, the original is correct. We omit the comma before 'in' because it clutters. Comma, conjunction, adverb, comma is permitted.
Because if you take out what is bet
Shouldn't this be 'He thought about moving to the city but, in the end, decided to stay where he was'.-- No, the original is correct. We omit the comma before 'in' because it clutters. Comma, conjunction, adverb, comma is permitted.
Because if you take out what is bet
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Is this some kind of exception to grammar rules?
Should i see this as 'He thought about moving to the city, but in the end, (he) decided to stay where he was."
Like 'he' is implied but omitted by some old grammar convention?
Should i see this as 'He thought about moving to the city, but in the end, (he) decided to stay where he was."
Like 'he' is implied but omitted by some old grammar convention?
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The problem is really the redundant comma after the adverbial "in the end".
You wouldn't put a comma here after "luckily", for instance (or if you did, a decent sub-editor would strike it out):
1. He thought about moving to the city, but luckily decided to stay where he was.
not
2. He thought about moving to the city, but luckily, decided to stay where he was.
You wouldn't put a comma here after "luckily", for instance (or if you did, a decent sub-editor would strike it out):
1. He thought about moving to the city, but luckily decided to stay where he was.
not
2. He thought about moving to the city, but luckily, decided to stay where he was.
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The problem is really the redundant comma after the adverbial "in the end". You wouldn't put a comma here after "luckily", for instance -- It is a matter of the length and complexity of the adverbial, and it is often a style choice as well, so a blanket statement like this is unrealistic.
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