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Kevin X Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Does the comma make any difference?

0 Hi,02br
02br
00Are there any differences, grammatically and semantically, between the following two sentences?02br
02br
00Looking down from the tower we saw many people walking in the streets.02br
00Looking down from the tower, we saw many people walking in the streets.02br
02br
00And the same question when the participle phrase is at the end:02br
02br
00We all kept quiet trying to find where the noise came from.02br
00We all kept quiet, trying to find where the noise came from.02br
02br
00Thanks!0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00I think your two commas make the sentences more comfortable. But there's little or no chance of misunderstanding either of them. )02br 02br 00You shouldn't have to scan a sentence first in order to decide where to pause.

— Avangi

  • 02br 02br 00I think your two commas make the sentences more comfortable.
  • But there's little or no chance of misunderstanding either of them.
  • )02br 02br 00You shouldn't have to scan a sentence first in order to decide where to pause.
  • 0-
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1 Answers
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0I don't know what the teachers are saying these days, but it seems the trend is to leave them out if they don't help to clarify the sentence.02br
02br
00I think your two commas make the sentences more comfortable. But there's little or no chance of misunderstanding either of them. (No grammatical or semantic changes because of the commas.)02br
02br
00Yo
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