Is this sentence correct?

Question

Is this sentence correct?I left the concert quickly making sure I took plenty of photos. Thank you

Ivanhr · Accepted Answer

You need a comma after quickly but it is otherwise fine.

BillJ · Answer

You could also say "I left the concert, quickly making sure I had taken plenty of photos".

BillJ

Anonymous · Answer

The sentence is fine, no comma is needed.

Fivejedjon · Answer

screamerer no comma is needed.

I think that most people would feel that a comma is needed.

Anonymous · Answer

fivejedjonI think that most people would feel that a comma is needed.

They do; except it's incorrect. Adding a comma there changes the present participle making into a gerund, which renders the meaning awkward. Think about it, How does leaving out quickly relate to making sure plenty of photos are taken? if something, they contradict each other. The participle, on the other hand, makes much sense as understood to be his state when he left, that is, as he left, he was making sure plenty of photos were taken (because, apparently, he had to leave quickly).

You said most people would feel that a comma is needed, what do you feel fivejedjon?

Fivejedjon · Answer

screamererThey do; except it's incorrect.

An opinion with which I do not agree.

screamererAdding a comma there changes the present participle making into a gerund, which renders the meaning awkward.

The presence or absence of a comma cannot transform a gerund into participle or vice versa.

screamerer How does leaving out quickly relate to making sure plenty of photos are taken?

Nobody has mentioned leaving out 'quickly'.

screamererwhat do you feel fivejedjon?

As I have already said - I think that most people would feel that a comma is needed.

Anonymous · Answer

fivejedjonThe presence or absence of a comma cannot transform a gerund into participle or vice versa.

I love eagles, flying high and looking sharp. (gerund)
I love eagles flying high and looking sharp. (present participle)

fivejedjonNobody has mentioned leaving out 'quickly'.

But the sentence is I left the concert quickly making sure I took plenty of photos.. . I don't understand, how is this crucial to the question/answer?

fivejedjonAs I have already said - I think that most people would feel that a comma is needed.

I know you have, but I wasn't asking about how you felt most people would feel, I was asking about how you felt about the comma, being it needed or not.

Ivanhr · Answer

Without a comma, the meaning is ambiguous. The sentence could be taken to mean either

He left the concert quickly (,) after making sure he took/had taken plenty of pictures.
or
He left the concert (,) after quickly making sure he took/had taken plenty of pictures.

To disambiguate you do need a comma after or before quickly or insert after, as I did in my examples. .

Anonymous · Answer

IvanhrHe left the concert (,) after quickly making sure he took/had taken plenty of pictures.

Your sentence here changes the meaning. As it originally came, the sentence conveys that the two actions happened in parallel, at the same time. It, the sentence, also differs from your other sentence in that the different positioning of the adverb quickly between the two results in a different meaning for each of them, He left the concert quickly (,) after making.. is not the same as He left the concert (,) after quickly making.. . The effect the adverb has on the meaning varies as varies its place in the sentence.

Ivanhr · Answer

screamererYour sentence here changes the meaning. As it originally came, the sentence conveys that the two actions happened in parallel, at the same time

Is this really relevant to the issue at hand?

The real question, as I see it, is "Does quickly refer to his leaving the concert or his making sure that he took plenty of photos"?.

Is this sentence correct?

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