ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Optional commas.

Akavall — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:37:53 GMT

Great! Thanks.

Re: Optional commas.

Grammar Geek — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:42:42 GMT

What you've just written sounds just right to me.

Alex, the silly boy, doesn't think grammar is important. I, of course, do!
Pam, that crazy girl, doesn't like peanut butter. I, however, couldn't live without it.

Re: Optional commas.

Akavall — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:34:57 GMT

This helps!

One more question. Is the situation with "of course" similar to that of "however"?

When it is important to emphasize that I have a different opinion or a much stronger opinion than somebody then

I, of course, think that using correct grammar is important.

should be used. Otherwise

Of course, I think that using correct grammar is important.

should be used. Is this right?

Thanks again!

Re: Optional commas.

Yankee — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:01:48 GMT

I however think that using correct grammar is important.

My main problem with your sentence is that I don't think I'd choose to use that word order at all unless I wanted to emphasize the difference of opinion between "I" and whoever I disagree with.

Generally speaking, I'd write this instead:
However, I think that using correct grammar is important.

Re: Optional commas.

Akavall — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:38:41 GMT

Yankee wrote:
Hi Akavall
To me, the only possible reason to use commas with 'however' (in your sentence) would be if someone else had just given an opinion different from mine, and I then wanted to stress the word 'I' -- i.e. to place extra emphasis on the fact that there is a difference between what I think and what they think.

So if I said:

Authors should not spend a lot of money on editing their books. I however think that using correct grammar is important.

I am not disagreeing with anybody; I am just changing the course of my initial idea. No commas?

I think I got the "therefore" part.

Thanks a lot for helping me with this .

Re: Optional commas.

Yankee — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:16:26 GMT

Hi Akavall

I would not use commas with consequently in that position. I doubt that I would insert the word 'thus' into the middle of "I think", but if I did, I would not use commas there either.

To me, the only possible reason to use commas with 'however' (in your sentence) would be if someone else had just given an opinion different from mine, and I then wanted to stress the word 'I' -- i.e. to place extra emphasis on the fact that there is a difference between what I think and what they think.

Re: Optional commas.

Akavall — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:37:29 GMT

Yankee, thanks for your help, but I am still not sure what is going on here.

Should the commas be left out in the following two sentences?

I consequently think that using correct grammar is important.
I thus think that using correct grammar is important.

"consequently" and "thus" are synonyms of "therefore", but I don't know whether they should be treated the same grammar-wise.

Re: Optional commas.

Yankee — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:29:48 GMT

I would put commas between therefore because that gives a speaker a pause.

The lack of a pause is precisely why I would not use a comma in the third sentence. I would not pause there -- probably because that is not an unusual location in that sentence for the word 'therefore'.

However, the words 'of course' and 'however' definitely interrupt the sentence when inserted in the middle of "I think", and I would pause before and after if I inserted those words in that particular place when speaking.

Re: Optional commas.

BW2/3 — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:48:36 GMT

I would put commas between therefore because that gives a speaker a pause.

Re: Optional commas.

Akavall — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:26:52 GMT

Yankee, Verade

My reasoning was that "I think that using correct grammar is important." makes perfect sense, so anything between "I" and "think" should (or could) be enclosed by the commas. It seems to be the case with "however" and "of course", but why are you treating "therefore" differently?

Re: Optional commas.

Verade — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:26:02 GMT

I agree, Yankee.

Re: Optional commas.

Yankee — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:11:18 GMT

Personally, I think I'd always use the commas in the first two, but I don't think I'd ever use commas in the third one.

I'll be interested in seeing what others think.

Optional commas.

Akavall — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:56:07 GMT

I, of course, think that using correct grammar is important.
I, however, think that using correct grammar is important.
I, therefore, think that using correct grammar is important.

Are the commas in the above sentences optional? If so, what difference do they make?