ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: comma necessary?

Avangi — Fri, 30 May 2008 04:15:39 GMT

Hi Anon, sorry I missed your "thus." It certainly was clear enough. (Maybe I'll have to slow down even more.)

I suspect the "Anon" immediately preceding my post is a different Anon, since he said essentially what I said and didn't seem to be aware of the "thus" either.

Another comma after "thus" would unnecessarily interrupt the flow. Regardless of the word or phrase you substitute, eg, "and in this manner," it belongs with the new action, rather than separating it or introducing it in the manner of a conjunction. I can't think of a sentence with this particular configuration where a comma after "thus" would help rather than hinder.

If you can come up with one, kindly post it.

Best wishes, - A.

Edit. Woops, I'm going too fast again. You mentioned "consequently" and "however." And consequently would have basically the same meaning in the sentence as and thus, and would flow nicely. But "and however" as an adverb here is a little strange. Would you mean in the sense of "and in some way" etc. ?? If so, I don't see how a comma would help.

Re: comma necessary?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:42:19 GMT

This is a really rough sentence. You can tell when a comma is needed if you feel the need to pause as you're reading the sentence. This sentence offers two thoughts in a sense. The initial statement, and the "conclusion" (offered following the "and thus"). The sentence therefore needs a break. Now, I'm not sure of the official rule that goes with this, but it has to do with structure and flow.

Re: comma necessary?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:35:09 GMT

Thank you.

I was asking whether a comma after the word 'thus' is necessary. I have seen with commas and without commas in some sentences I came in contact with and was wondering what the reason mght be. I think 'thus' is an adverb. How about an adverb like "however" or "consequently." If I replaced the "thus" with a previously mentioned word, what would I have to do to figure out whether to place a comma after it.

Yankee's sentence again with my underlining the part I want to talk about:

To me, the use of 'may' does not rule out the possibility that 'he did that', and thus conflicts with the idea of 'did this instead' at the end of the sentence.

Re: comma necessary?

Avangi — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:31:02 GMT

To my ear, it reads better with the pause. "That and thus" sounds like a phrase, if you're not already familiar with the sentence.

The subject is "use," and there's a compound predicate with the two verbs "[does] rule" and "conflicts." They're widely separated, and the comma helps to show where the first action ends and the second action begins.

If a sentence seems awkward without a comma, I'd say try it a few times with pauses at different points, and see if it then makes better sense. If so, put the comma.

- A.

comma necessary?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:24:16 GMT

Hi,

Yankee used this sentence in one of threads. How do we know if we need to put a comma after 'thus' or not.

To me, the use of 'may' does not rule out the possibility that 'he did that', and thus conflicts with the idea of 'did this instead' at the end of the sentence.