Comma

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Anonymous  #179764  Fri, 06 Jan 06 06:06 PM
When beginning a sentence with a coordinating conjunction such as 'and', 'but', 'so', etc., do we always follow the conjunction with a comma?
  
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MrPedantic  #179824  Sat, 07 Jan 06 12:08 AM

Hello Anon

I would say no. You use a comma after And/But/So only when you want to indicate a natural pause, e.g.

1. So, you want to play for Manchester United, do you?

– the comma indicates a pause after "So".

2. I want to play football for Manchester United. But I don't like Sir Alex Ferguson, their manager. So I may play for Liverpool instead. And then I'll earn more, too.

– no natural pauses, so no need for commas.

MrP

  
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