[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
This is how William Shatner, the inventor of “pause acting” (according to Kevin Pollak) would punctuate:
A few, years, ago, the subject, barely, interested me, but, in common, with many people, my age, I, have, now, seen, the light.
[/QUOTE]
Not quite.
A few, years, ago, the subject, barely, interested me, but in, common, with many people, my age, I, have, now, seen, the light.
-FrL-
A few years ago, the subject barely interested me, but in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Just trying to gauge opinion here: where would you put commas in this sentence?
[/QUOTE]
A few years ago the subject barely interested me but, in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
That’s where I’d put them. Today. I will usually hold off putting in a comma unless something absolutely, positively needs one, and your sentence would be understandable without one, but commas would make it easier to read.
[QUOTE=Risha]
I’m not a grammar maven by any means. And I’m sure that the cite is correct. But I’m not sure why you’re saying the second example doesn’t make sense.
I may be slightly influenced by my urge to rephrase the sentence to use either a dash or a semicolon. But everything after the second comma can easily stand alone as its own sentence.
[/QUOTE]
Colophon is saying that if you remove the part highlighted in red, the parenthetic part, you end up with the incorrect
A few years ago, the subject barely interested me I have now seen the light.
in the second case.
A few years ago the subject barely interested me, but, in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
A few years ago the subject barely interested me, but in common with many people my age I have now seen the light.
ETA: I’m honored to say the same thing as twickster!
To me, it depends on how much you want to emphasize the importance of the fact that ‘many people your age’ are interested in the subject.
I think the comma after ‘me’ and after ‘age’ have to be there, BUT, and this is important part, it depends on how much weight you actually want to put into the parenthetic part.
A comma after ‘ago’ just seems awkward and unnecessary.
A few years ago the subject barely interested me, but, in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
If it were for something that really, really, really mattered, I’d look it up. But for less formal writing, that’s how the commas feel they should be placed.
ETA: I agree with Frylock’s final spoiler.
[QUOTE=Lama Pacos]
Here’s where I, as a heavy user, would add commas, but I’d note that with this sentence I’d actually give it the seal of approval even with zero commas (though the most important one, IMO, occurs between the clauses after ‘me’:
A few years ago, the subject barely interested me, but, in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
[/QUOTE]
At a minimum, I would put a comma between the “me” and the “but.” Two long independent clauses not separated by a comma drive me nuts. Is it really acceptable to omit that comma? If proofreading, I would definitely insert that comma.
The other two I could live without. My stylistic tastes tend to be somewhere between open and closed punctuation. I don’t like the heavy comma and semi-colon use of yore, but I also don’t like complete minimalism. In the sentence above, my instinct would actually be to punctuate it with the four commas. I would be most likely to omit the first comma, if any.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Just trying to gauge opinion here: where would you put commas in this sentence?
[/Quote]
[Spoiler]You didn’t specifically ask about other punctuation, but I felt compelled to insert a semicolon. Thus, the edited sentence reads:
“A few years ago, the subject barely interested me; but, in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.”[/Spoiler]
[QUOTE=Colophon]
So, using a simpler sentence, would you prefer:
I used to do X but, since Y happened, I do Z.
or
I used to do X, but, since Y happened, I do Z.
[/quote]
[Spoiler]I substituted some more specific clauses, and came up with this:
“I used to drive to work, but since the price of gas went over $4 a gallon, I now walk.”
If I had to pick one of the two choices you deem more acceptable than that, I’d go with the second one. “I used to drive but, now I walk” just looks wrong to me.
[/spoiler]
A few years ago the subject barely interested me, but, in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
Joe
A few years ago the subject barely interested me, but in common with many people my age, I have now seen the light.
I only have that second comma there because I feel like I need to stop the awkward flow of “but in common with.” I could do with or without it if you changed “in common with” with “like.”
[QUOTE=Frylock]
You’re joking, but I’m serious. “But” is better in this case.
-FrL-
[/QUOTE]
I like “But” at the start of a sentence even less than I like “However.”