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Do I need a comma before 'building'?
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Futurehuman11  #459319  Wed, 02 Jan 08 12:53 AM
I'll be rolling around in the mud building a new fence with which to keep my animals from escape.
  
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Clive  #459324  Wed, 02 Jan 08 01:04 AM

Hi,

Do I need a comma before 'building'?

I'll be rolling around in the mud building a new fence with which to keep my animals from escape.
 
Yes.Otherwise, it looks grammatically like 'building . . . ' qualifies 'mud', although of course that would be rather nonsensical in terms of meaning.
 
A comma will also make the two partsof the sentence easier for the reader to find and to understand quickly.
 
Clive
  
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Buddhaheart  #459326  Wed, 02 Jan 08 01:11 AM
The way I understand your sentence, I’d say no, you don’t have to.
  
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Hoa Thai  #459334  Wed, 02 Jan 08 01:52 AM
I agree with Clive. With a comma, the sentence is clearer as we tie the same subject to rolling and building.

I'll be rolling ....., building .....

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Hoa Thai
  
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Philip  #459338  Wed, 02 Jan 08 02:12 AM
 Futurehuman11 wrote:
I'll be rolling around in the mud building a new fence with which to keep my animals from escape.
I once used a grammar book that had a chapter on punctuation called "Punctuation For Meaning".  Throw out all the "rules" and look at this example of meaning.  Is it "mud building" or "buiding a new fence"?  Here, the comma makes all the difference in the world!
  
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Marius Hancu  #459424  Wed, 02 Jan 08 11:11 AM
You need a comma.

But
>I'll be rolling around in the mud
is strange, it means you're lying on the ground and moving by rotating about yourself (rolling)

Also, IMO:
>a new fence with which to keep my animals from escape.
a new fence to keep my animals from escaping.

  
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