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Falconer Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Disjunct adverbs and filler words

I suppose this goes for introductionary words, too. Essentially, I usually use a comma to separate disjuncts; however, when the sentence contains a filler word, it comes across as a little clunky, if not outwright wrong. Consider the following:

"We should get going, then."
"We should get going then."

"Oh, we should get going, then."
"Oh, we should get going then."

"I kind of understand her, though."
"I kind of understand her though."

"Well, I kind of understand her, though."
"Well, I kind of understand her though."

"I don't think so, either."
"I don't think so either."

"No, I don't think so, either."
"No, I don't think so either."

Is there a recommended practise?
  

Top answer

I tend to agree with you. The commas seem to me to be least obtrusive and most logically justified in the examples with "then". I probably wouldn't bother with them even here, but I think some people would.

  • I tend to agree with you.
  • The commas seem to me to be least obtrusive and most logically justified in the examples with "then".
  • I probably wouldn't bother with them even here, but I think some people would.
  • In the examples with "though", the commas seem clunky and unnecessary to me.
  • In the last two examples, the commas seem clunky to the point of being wrong.
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1 Answers
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I tend to agree with you.

The commas seem to me to be least obtrusive and most logically justified in the examples with "then". I probably wouldn't bother with them even here, but I think some people would.

In the examples with "though", the commas seem clunky and unnecessary to me.

In the last two examples, the commas seem clunky to the point of being wrong.

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