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Goronsky Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Larry Trask says 'no' to commas after speech tags
Larry Trask says to omit commas after speech tags in the examples below:
President Nixon declared "I am not a crook."
Stalin announced defiantly "Hitler's invasion of Russia will be no more successful than Napoleon's was."
The Shadow Employment Secretary declared "Describing the unemployment figures as `disappointing' is an insult to the British people."
Adding more dots and squiggles to this perfectly clear sentence would do absolutely nothing to improve it. No punctuation mark should be used if it is not necessary.
***************
So, do you support the omission of commas after dialogue tags per the advice of Trask above? See below.
President Nixon said "I am not a crook."
Joe yelled "Fire!"
Joanne asked "Where did you buy that gorgeous dress?"
Pete asked me "May I bum a cigarette?"
Thank you.
President Nixon declared "I am not a crook."
Stalin announced defiantly "Hitler's invasion of Russia will be no more successful than Napoleon's was."
The Shadow Employment Secretary declared "Describing the unemployment figures as `disappointing' is an insult to the British people."
Adding more dots and squiggles to this perfectly clear sentence would do absolutely nothing to improve it. No punctuation mark should be used if it is not necessary.
***************
So, do you support the omission of commas after dialogue tags per the advice of Trask above? See below.
President Nixon said "I am not a crook."
Joe yelled "Fire!"
Joanne asked "Where did you buy that gorgeous dress?"
Pete asked me "May I bum a cigarette?"
Thank you.
Top answer
goronsky Larry Trask says to omit commas ... Adding more dots and squiggles to this perfectly clear sentence would do absolutely nothing to improve it. No punctuation mark should be used if it is not necessary.
- goronsky Larry Trask says to omit commas ...
- Adding more dots and squiggles to this perfectly clear sentence would do absolutely nothing to improve it.
- No punctuation mark should be used if it is not necessary.
- Larry is obviously a student of Gertrude Stein.
- CJ
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3 Answers
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goronskyLarry Trask says to omit commas ... Adding more dots and squiggles to this perfectly clear sentence would do absolutely nothing to improve it. No punctuation mark should be used if it is not necessary.Larry is obviously a student of Gertrude Stein.
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CalifJimLarry is obviously a student of Gertrude Stein.Dot is a dot is a dot.
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fivejedjonDot is a dot is a dot.I hate to say it, but you've got it wrong. Dot is a dot is a dot is a dot.
CJ
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