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Zdeněk Král Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Commas in before negative sentences – "Aid not Trade"

Hello,

I've been trying to google this, but English is obviously not as crazy a language as Czech is. Could you please tell me whether you put a comma before a negative sentence in English?

In Czech, we would say:

I'm a conductor, (comma) not a pilot.
I'm happy, not sad.

and: Trade, not aid.

However, the official motto is Trade not aid.

Czech is "special" ;-), we can't really compare it to English, however, just to be sure: English does not divide two sentences with opposite meaning with a comma?

Thank you very much, have a nice day!

Zdenek
  

Top answer

Hello, Zdenek Král—and welcome to English Forums. Zdenek Král just to be sure: English does not divide two sentences with opposite meaning with a comma? Such clauses and phrases are often divided for clarity.

— Mister Micawber

  • Hello, Zdenek Král—and welcome to English Forums.
  • Zdenek Král just to be sure: English does not divide two sentences with opposite meaning with a comma?
  • Such clauses and phrases are often divided for clarity.
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2 Answers
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Hello, Zdenek Král—and welcome to English Forums.
Zdenek Král just to be sure: English does not divide two sentences with opposite meaning with a comma?
Such clauses and phrases are often divided for clarity.
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I like that, we rarely do something in Czech "just" for clarity, we have strict rules and Aid not trade would actually be wrong :-) Thank you!
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