# Grammar question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391 "2002-12-09T00:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/21 "2002-12-09T09:21:46Z")
> [@](#): > > **Runs of** Something’s wrong with me today, I think I had better just run along and try again tomorrow :smack: ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/22 "2002-12-09T09:22:22Z")
Hail Gaudere;) ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/23 "2002-12-09T10:45:32Z")
> [@](#): > > **racinchikki** : I didn’t think the issue was “Can there be a comma here because this is poetry?” The issue was “Is it appropriate for there to be a comma here to indicate a short pause?” At least, that’s what Opal’s friend said, and what we are refuting. Poetry _or any other kind of non-standard expression_. The comma can be there because the author of the site wanted it there (and who knows what they intended it to mean), and that’s about as far as you can go with it IMHO. Grammar style guides are fantastic for newspapers, essays, and all kinds of _written_ things, but not really applicable to comedy Flash presentations. The authoritative cite here would come from a Flash expert, not a copy editor. Would I have put the comma in there? No. The pause is inherent in the timing of the Flash, so to me it’s redundant. Ideally there shouldn’t be any commas at all, or there should at least be a comma after every line. But then I think the whole page is irredeemably stupid, so why assume the author and I are going to agree about the more minor points of web design? -fh ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/24 "2002-12-09T13:18:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lindsay.reid \* > \*\*No comma in English. Interestingly enough, there would be one in German, though. \*\* Sorry, **lindsay** , but there wouldn’t be a comma in German either. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/25 "2002-12-09T13:25:02Z")
Yes, there should be, a comma. (just thought there should be at least ONE dissenting opinion, even if I, myself, don’t believe it) Astroboy14, (profession withheld out of fear that someone will search through my posts and begin mocking me). ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/26 "2002-12-09T13:47:40Z")
No comma. You _can_ put one in, if you like. Heck, it’s a free country, you can put a picture of a wildebeeste in there if you like. But just because you _can_ do it doesn’t make it right. As several have (correctly) pointed out, a comma is (among other things) a visual marker for the formation of clauses. Hence the old joke: “What’s the difference between a comma and a tiger? One has a pause at the end of its clause, the other has claws on the ends of its paws.” Thank you, I’ll be here all week. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/27 "2002-12-09T15:44:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cisco \* > **Cisco, who had the best English teacher in the world three semesters in a row.** Kept getting left back, eh? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/28 "2002-12-09T21:28:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Early Out \* > \*\*Kept getting left back, eh? 😉 \*\* No. It was two different English classes and then Creative Writing. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/29 "2002-12-09T22:12:17Z")
Oh, **Ceeesco** , I was just keeeding! (Go ahead and hurt me - tell me you’re not old enough to remember _The Cisco Kid_!) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/30 "2002-12-09T22:29:03Z")
Oh, Paaaancho! ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/31 "2002-12-10T01:33:29Z")
Former copyeditor, former composition teacher chiming in. No comma. And I’m not sure, but watching that Flash presentation, think I saw “Greatfull” go by pretty quick as well… ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/32 "2002-12-10T03:49:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Grammar style guides are fantastic for newspapers, essays, and all kinds of written things, but not really applicable to comedy Flash presentations. The authoritative cite here would come from a Flash expert, not a copy editor. Oh yeah, that makes sense. It’s not like it’s _code_ we’re talking about. It’s a _written piece_ that just happens to have, as its mode of delivery, a bit of Flash animation. That’s rather like finding bad grammar in the painted-on sign of a store window and saying “The cite here should come from an artist, because it’s painted.” Wow. I need to get out more. I get far too uppity about grammar. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/33 "2002-12-10T06:30:12Z")
No, it’s a question of Flash precisely because of how it is being presented… in a way possible with Flash and not possible on a piece of paper or a painted-on sign (well, I guess Dylan and INXS managed it). The comma is unnecessary because the pause can be indicated by leaving that word up on the screen for however long you wish the reader to pause. This is not a question of grammar because style guides are written with the goal of making written things consistent and therefore more easily understood. Putting the words on the screen one at a time whizzing around kind of tosses all that out the window, don’t you think? -fh ---
**Author:** ![Mysphyt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Mysphyt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mysphyt)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/34 "2002-12-10T07:15:24Z")
No comma, even if there were a pause. Think about it. If I were to say “I have a cat,” using commas to render pauses, it would read “I have a cat.” If, however, I were to run a four-minute mile and then say “I have a cat,” It would be rendered “I, have, a, cat.” Ridiculous. Comma may mean pause, but pause by no means means comma. And re: whether it’s a question of Flash or not: it’s not. What we’ve got here, regardless of the presentation, is _written English._ Written English has rules, whether it’s in a Flash presentation or in a personal e-mail or a critical analysis of Beowulf. If the chorus of “Dr. Feelgood” said, instead of “He’s the one that makes you feel all right,” “Him is the one that is making the you feel the rightness is all,” even if I know nothing about music I understand that’s wrong, because even if it’s in music, the error is one of English. Even though it’s in Flash, the error is one of English. And incidentally, I much prefer [this](http://no.one.youaremyfriend.com) rendition. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391/35 "2002-12-10T12:43:13Z")
hazel-rah: No, I don’t think. The intent of the bit is pretty clearly supposed to be a sentence. It fails as that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/141391.md?page=1)