Commas before adverbs at end of sentence

[chipperMDW]

The following is a sentence I might write.

It's time to go home, now.

My "grammar sense" tells me that the comma is supposed to go there (perhaps optionally), but I can't explain why, and I can't find any rules supporting that use of a comma.

Can someone please point me to some rule that says I can/should/shouldn't use a comma like that?

 

[r937]

no the comma doesn't belong, there

see The Comma




r937.com | rudy.ca

 

[chipperMDW]

Thanks for the link.

Use commas to set off non-restrictive elements and other parenthetical elements. A non-restrictive modifier is a phrase or clause that does not restrict or limit the meaning of the word it is modifying. It is, in a sense, interrupting material that adds extra information to a sentence. Even though removing the non-restrictive element would result in some loss of meaning, the sentence would still make sense without it. You should usually set off non-restrictive elements with commas[.]

So... according to that, wouldn't the "now" in my example be a non-restrictive element? If I remove "now," I get:

It's time to go home.

That sentence no longer has the immediacy implied by the original, but it still makes sense.

 

[chipperMDW]

I also see:

Do not use commas to set off words and short phrases (especially introductory ones) that are not parenthetical or that are very slightly so[.]

I suppose "now" is a word, and that it's only slightly parenthetical in my example.


Why, then, does my brain tell me that I used to read sentences like the one my example all the time when I was little? Was it considered proper at one time to use a comma like that?

 

[CajunCenturion]

In this case, the comma may or may not be used, but it's not really optional. It depends on how much emphasis you wish to place on 'now'. Perhaps you can 'hear' the difference between the following:

It's time to go home now.
It's time to go home, NOW!

There is nothing grammatically wrong with either sentence, but in second one, the 'now' functions as an imperative. Imperatives should be set off, and in fact, it's the comma that puts the emphasis on 'now', and informs us that 'now' is an imperative.

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[Dollie]

What if the sentence is, "Now, it's time to go home."?

(And is the ."? above correct or is it "? or ?")

All the rules you learned in school about commas has changed. I found that out the hard way last semester after getting my first paper (well, first in 20 years) sliced and diced by the professor for it.

 

[SilentAiche]

Dollie,

I can't quote a source right now (I'm trying to get caught up after about four days of being away from TT), but I've always heard that the quotation marks should be placed outside the punctuation. E.G.: ...oowah!"

Tim


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[CajunCenturion]

Please consider the following:

What if the sentence was, "Now, it's time to go home."?
What if the question was, "Is it now time to go home?"?

I am of the school of thought that believes punctuation should be only be inside the quotes if the puncutation pertains only to the quoted material. In the first case, the period applies only to the quoted sentence and so should be inside the quotes, but the question is outside of the quoted material, so the question mark should be outside of the quotes. I hope the second example further illustrates the 'puncutation scope'.

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[Dollie]

I got nailed time after time on punctuation within quotations, a good example being the sentence above. Since the sentence is a question with a quoted statement, should I or should I not use the question mark? I always thought the quoted statement had its own punctuation, and then you needed punctuation to end the sentence.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Yes, I think you should use the question mark because you're asking a question.

==> I always thought the quoted statement had its own punctuation, and then you needed punctuation to end the sentence.
I completely agree, or as in this case, end the question.

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[Dollie]

Well I know where I'm sending my professor next time we get into the comma argument!



or is it...

Well, I know where I'm sending my professor next time we get to the comma argument!

(Wasn't it The Electric Company on PBS that would read things and make sounds for the punctuation?)

 

[sleipnir214]

<facetious>
It depends.

Do you intend the word well to be an interjection to the sentence or as an adverb modifying know?
<facetious>


I would look for Victor Borge's "Phonetic Punctuation" sketch.



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[AnotherHiggins]

->make sounds for the punctuation

Are you thinking of Victor Borge?

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[Dollie]

Are you thinking of Victor Borge?

(insert visual for Lucy yelling at Charlie Brown)

THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep hearing the exclamation point.

He must have been on Sesame Street, and I was thinking of Fargo North, Decoder from Electric Company.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

sleipnir beat me because I couldn't remember his name. I was busy googling for things like piano enunciate punctuation.

There's more of his stuff available at

http://www.YouTube.com.

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