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Snarf Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Commas in Rhetorical Questions

Please take a look at these two lines of dialogue:

"What are you freakin' insane?" she shouted.

"What're you, new?" he asked.

I feel that the first one doesn't need a comma, but the second one does. Does that make sense?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Hi, Both need a comma. I see no basic difference in these examples. Clive

— Clive

  • Hi, Both need a comma.
  • I see no basic difference in these examples.
  • Clive
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4 Answers
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Hi,

Both need a comma. I see no basic difference in these examples.

Clive
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But if I add a comma after "you" in the first one, won't that instigate a pause? Or does it not even matter, that is, it has to have one to be grammatically correct?
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Hi,

You need a pause after 'you' in the first example, for the same reason that you need a pause after 'you' in the second example.

Or you could punctuate it like this, with a comma after 'what'.
Is this what you mean?
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No, in my mind, there's definitely no pause after "what," so I'm definitely going to go with it after the "you."

Thanks.
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