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+--- Thread: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) (/showthread.php?tid=275120)
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - Janit - 02-26-2023
RAMd®d wrote:
Janit's answer sounds proper, though I wouldn't know correct from incorrect.
I use a lot of commas, to the dismay of some MRFers, apparently.
But they help emphasize words or thoughts in my sentences and establish a certain cadence of my speech.
In reading, some may give too much emphasis to the comma as though there were times ascribed to them.
Maybe I should use one or more depending on their function in a sentence.
If I'm honest, I've only clicked on this thread to read Todd's keyboard's sign-off.
Proper grammar is more by guess and by golly for me.
But that probably goes without saying.
Another issue is that this is a joke, which is a performance rather than a formal piece of exposition. So one might want to use a comma in both cases as a cue to pause before the punchline for the purposes of comic timing rather than grammar. Punctuation should always serve clarity of expression, and if application of the "rules" muddies the communication, then the best solution is to work around the rules.
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - N-OS X-tasy! - 02-26-2023
The comma is correct.
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - RAMd®d - 02-26-2023
Damn, you're good!
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - Todd's keyboard - 02-26-2023
Janit wrote:
Another issue is that this is a joke, which is a performance rather than a formal piece of exposition.
Ah, time for another confession. I'm working on a how-to book on comedy writing. The working title is currently Writing Down the Funny Bones. A small sub-section on Tom Swifities is included in a section on puns and wordplay. Janit, along with a clear explanation on comma usage, also understands the tension between text that is meant to be heard, rather than read.
Once again, thanks to all,
Todd's ChatGPWhat? board
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - pdq - 02-26-2023
Toss the cow over the fence some hay.
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - Bill in NC - 02-26-2023
I type up the minutes for our monthly HOA board meetings.
I then run the above through a free grammar checker, which tells me to add commas.
So apparently the more commas, the better.
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - Todd's keyboard - 02-26-2023
Bill in NC wrote:
So apparently the more commas, the better.
Here, have some on me.
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , (There's plenty more where those came from.)
Todd's keyboard of plenty
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - Janit - 02-26-2023
Todd's keyboard wrote:
[quote=Janit]
Another issue is that this is a joke, which is a performance rather than a formal piece of exposition.
Ah, time for another confession. I'm working on a how-to book on comedy writing. The working title is currently Writing Down the Funny Bones. A small sub-section on Tom Swifities is included in a section on puns and wordplay. Janit, along with a clear explanation on comma usage, also understands the tension between text that is meant to be heard, rather than read.
Once again, thanks to all,
Todd's ChatGPWhat? board
The adverbial Swiftie is the purist form and is based on the overabundance of adverbs in dialogue tags in the original books. Part of the punch comes from the simplicity of the construction.
Extending the joke form into other forms of dialogue tags requires some thought in order to make the joke concise. The shorter the joke, the more powerful it is.
Consider this revision of one of your offerings above:
"I'm of two minds about this," Tom said, being Frank.
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - cbelt3 - 02-26-2023
I went to Harvard, said the comma, the grammarian, and the novelist.
Re: Lost in Tom Swifties and punctuation (Question about commas) - wurm - 02-26-2023
Bill in NC wrote:
I type up the minutes for our monthly HOA board meetings.
I then run the above through a free grammar checker, which tells me to add commas.
So apparently the more commas, the better.
This reminds me of a book I was given years ago. It was an autobiography by Larry Fine (of The Three Stooges). I literally coudn't finish it. Actually, I barely made it through the first chapter. I had never seen so may commas used it a printed book. It was quite sad, as I figured he must have written it after he had his stroke(s).
Wondering if it was just my imagination, for the hell of it, I just found a review of it on Amazon.
The book is obviously self-published, because no editor with a hint of self respect would have allowed this manuscript to go to the printer in anything resembling this condition. Early on, one gains the impression that the "author" (and I use the term loosely) was paid by the comma -- because almost every sentence has a minimum of 2 or 3 superfluous commas. Let's not even talk about other punctuation, or the grammar (or lack thereof).