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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab
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To: jbe who wrote (3167)7/15/1999 8:15:00 PM
From: The Philosopher  Read Replies (2) of 4711
 
There are three questions:

1. Is the comma grammatically necessary?

2. Would a comma have been incorrect?

3. Is the comma stylistically preferable?
'
My answer to 1: no.

My answer to 2: no.

My answer to 3: you pays your money and you makes your choice. I think the sentence was perfectly clear as written, and that readers of the level of those on this thread were perfectly capable of keeping track of the thought without needing a comma after the short introductory clause. In fact, IMO a comma would have interrupted the flow of the sentence. So I think it read better without. But that's a stylistic decision.

But if any teacher had tried to red pen it as a grammatical error, I would have fought. And won.

(P.S. -- in that last sentence, I initially used grammatic. Then thought for a second, then consulted the dictionary as to whether I should be using grammatical. To my surprise, this dictionary doesn't even recognize grammatic as a word. Will have to check the OED when I get home.)
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