Table of Contents
Just when you think you have the rules sorted out, a situation arises that doesn’t quite fit any of them.
Comma after “SO”?
Comma before “NOT”?
Comma before “TOO”?
The key to any of these is consistency.
So
- He left early so he won’t have to speed.
- He left early, so he won’t have to speed.
My spell checker wants a comma in both sentences. I checked through the AP Stylebook and found no rules. I checked through my online edition of The Chicago Manual of Style and found no rules. Searching Internet sites resulted in no clear conclusion, but there was some agreement on these two suggestions.
“So” without the comma usually indicates that what follows is the direct result of what precedes. Think in terms of cause and effect.
- He left early so he won’t have to speed.
- Because he left early, he won’t have to speed.
- “Leaving early” is the cause. “He won’t have to speed” is the effect.
Often we insert a comma when a speaker would pause briefly. Applying that rule to “so” follows spoken speech and helps the reader in this situation. (It’s not always the appropriate action!)
“So” with the comma introduces a pause, a hesitation, perhaps a question, in what follows.
- Will he have to speed to make it home on time?
- No, he left early, so he won’t have to speed.
- Spoken with a slight hesitation at both commas
Examples:
- The only train for Boston was delayed for five hours so they left at midnight.
- (Cause = train delay. Effect = leaving at midnight.)
- “The train will be delayed for at least five hours.”
- “So it won’t leave before midnight.”
- (Simple statement of cause and effect.)
- “So, it won’t leave before midnight.”
- (Consider a sigh between “so” and “it,” a sigh of despair.)
- “So it won’t leave before midnight.”
- The spray plane spent all day flying over the forest with its defective insecticide so all the trees in the forest were contaminated.
- (Cause = defective insecticide. Effect = contaminated trees.)
- They stared in dismay at the dying trees.
- “So all the trees in the forest were contaminated.”
- (Simple statement of the consequences, cause and effect..)
- “So, all the trees in the forest were contaminated.”
- The biologist nodded.
- “So, what do we do now?”
- (The pause for a moment of thought.)
- “So all the trees in the forest were contaminated.”
Not
(Contradictory phrases–both positions cannot be true, no comma)
If the “not” phrase is essential to the meaning, stating opposing or contradictory positions, no comma should come between them.
If the “not” phrase is simply explanatory, a comma should be used to separate it from the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
- That’s my book not yours on the bookshelf. I paid a lot of good money for it. It’s mine! (Contradictory)
- That’s my book, not yours, on the bookshelf. (explanatory)
- He was born in 1952 not in 1951. (Contradictory, correcting an error in an obituary)
- He was born in 1952, not in 1951. (explanatory)
- The horses stood out in the pasture not in the barn. The tornado destroyed the barn, but they were safe out in the pasture. (Contradictory)
- The horses stood out in the pasture, not in the barn, despite the thunderstorm. (explanatory)
- The dog licked not bit the postman. (Contradictory, correction in the transcript of the lawsuit)
- The dog licked, not bit, the postman. (explanatory)
- After the blizzard, the truck was stuck in the mud not in the snow. (Contradictory, correction in an advertisement for snow tires.)
- After the blizzard, the truck was stuck in the mud, not in the snow. (explanatory)
Not … but … /Not only … but also …
A comma is optional and may be included or left out with “not … but” or “not only … but also.”
Examples:
- The principal sat in the back of the classroom, not to observe the teacher, but to observe the students.
- The principal sat in the back of the classroom not to observe the teacher but to observe the students.
- Carl Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize, not only for his poetry, but also for his biography of Abraham Lincoln.
- Carl Sandburg won the Pulitzer Prize not only for his poetry but also for his biography of Abraham Lincoln.
Too/Either
However, note the words “not required,” so we can still use a comma (cause and effect for “so”).
Examples:
- They changed this rule too.
- They changed this rule, too.
- I don’t like it either.
- I don’t like it, either.
Often “too” in the middle of a sentence is included for special emphasis or clarification. Commas set off the “too” for those purposes.
Examples:
- He ate the peas, too, but not the carrots.
- She studied Spanish, too, so she could learn another language.
When “too” means “more than enough,” it is not preceded by a comma. It serves as an adverb with a different function.
Examples:
- There are too many rules for grammar!
- We stayed out too late last night and slept too long this morning.
Generally, “either” at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence is part of “either … or,” which does not take a comma before “or.”
Examples:
- I will either learn this stuff or I won’t!
- (“Either … or,” so no commas)
- This year the gardener expects either the day lilies or the tulips will bloom first.
- (“Either … or,” so no commas)
The more …, the more …
The pattern is “the more” one thing happened, “the more” something else occurred, with a comma between the two clauses. The same is true for “less” or “fewer.”
Remember that some adjectives become “more” by adding “-er” instead of using “more.”
Examples:
- The more he practiced, the more baskets he made.
- The more she ran, the greater the pain in her leg grew.
- The less money they made, the fewer steaks they bought.
- The more we sang, the happier we felt.
- The sadder she was, the quieter she became.
Credits: Photo by Kelly Sikkema, Photo by Mohamed Ziyaadh, Photo by Sonny Ravesteijn (Sorry, I lost his link) on Unsplash