Board 8 > How do you feel about commas used to emphasize pauses but...

(+) Yeah! (+)

I don't mind, but in your example I'd probably use a hyphen

XIII_Rocks posted...

I don't mind, but in your example I'd probably use a hyphen

I was actually thinking the same thing with that after posting this topic! So it's probably a bad example

I do this sometimes when I feel it's important. Only in dialogue, though, where a character's delivery is important. In prose, I just rephrase the sentence.

just do what video games do and use ellipses to signify added pause time

i abuse tf out of commas

I'm often told that I do too many comma splices, but I don't care.

LeonhartFour posted...

just do what video games do and use ellipses to signify added pause time

Ellipses just don't feel right in so many of these instances though. Hyphens you can make a case for, but ellipses often don't work well and make the intended way of speaking something even more confusing.

Dashes or ellipses is where it's at. Which I go for depends on the situation.

I'm more an ellipsis abuser myself. In actual writing, on the other hand, I'll properly use semicolons.

ellipses feel more like a signifier of trailing off or lack of interest, not so much an intentional pause

i'd probably use a comma or em dash/hyphen

ivysnow posted...

ellipses feel more like a signifier of trailing off or lack of interest, not so much an intentional pause

At the end of a sentence, yeah, but not in the middle.

I almost never use dashes. I'd go semi-colon or parentheses over the dash almost every time.

I like ellipses but the pause they produce is too much to be a substitute for a comma. Honestly I like semicolons and dashes, too, which I think are a proper substitute, and I still end up using commas for this purpose sometimes.

not that i know of usually - tend to prefer dashes for both emphatic pauses (that grammatically have no break) and additional clauses (where you might expect a comma, semicolon, or period instead)

italics or stress symbols can also give the sensation of pausing

-- for brief pause
... for longer pause

Any other thing you can use a period. No need to be splicing commas

Lopen posted...

-- for brief pause
... for longer pause

Any other thing you can use a period. No need to be splicing commas

Depends on the character and their delivery. I use dashes and ellipses for types of pause rather than merely length, and with some characters, it can get way too punctuation heavy if you use these every time you want the reader to parse their speech with separation. For an OC, I would still never do this, but I've been writing fanfiction lately, and when the reader knows a character and how they're portrayed vocally, you want to emulate that. Sadly, simply writing "<character name> said," is not enough to force that. At least not in my head when I subvocalize it. I want to use every trick at my disposal, and sometimes that means using a questionable comma as long as it isn't incredibly forced.

I'll look for an example next time I'm revising.

Grimlyn posted...

i abuse tf out of commas

This but I've also been told before that commas aren't confetti and i can't fill the air with them whenever i feel like it.

On topic, I've been meaning to watch that geller vid. He is top tier. Thanks for the reminder

azuarc posted...

Depends on the character and their delivery. I use dashes and ellipses for types of pause rather than merely length, and with some characters, it can get way too punctuation heavy if you use these every time you want the reader to parse their speech with separation. For an OC, I would still never do this, but I've been writing fanfiction lately, and when the reader knows a character and how they're portrayed vocally, you want to emulate that. Sadly, simply writing "<character name> said," is not enough to force that. At least not in my head when I subvocalize it. I want to use every trick at my disposal, and sometimes that means using a questionable comma as long as it isn't incredibly forced.

I'll look for an example next time I'm revising.

fiction is pretty different from actual conversational writing tho

example in the op is fine y'all are a bunch of joyless schoolmarms

use a dash for god's sake

that comma, is so annoying

_Blur_ posted...

"That's wild, and fully deserved."

just add an "it's" after the "and" to be totally correct. This example is much less obnoxious than the comma splices and run-on sentences people usually abuse them for

NeatoAnAccount posted...

example in the op is fine y'all are a bunch of joyless schoolmarms

He's literally asking for advice

Honestly a semicolon is probably the most accurate thing to use for that usage. But using a semicolon is tryhard af so a comma is better.

foolm0r0n posted...

Honestly a semicolon is probably the most accurate thing to use for that usage. But using a semicolon is tryhard af so a comma is better.

Okay this is like the third time someone has brought up semicolons and I'm confused how it fits my example. I thought you could only use semicolons with two independent clauses - "and fully deserved" is not an independent clause.

is there a disinformation campaign for semicolons or am I the one misinformed

_Blur_ posted...

Okay this is like the third time someone has brought up semicolons and I'm confused how it fits my example. I thought you could only use semicolons with two independent clauses - "and wild" is not an independent clause.

is there a disinformation campaign for semicolons or am I the one misinformed

you're right

Those comments could be intending to add a subject to that line. "That's wild; and it's fully deserved" works.

But I agree, semicolons are too tryhard for casual conversation

When I was a kid someone erroneously told me that you were supposed to use commas where you would pause and so I ended up using them a lot (and even getting praised for actually bothering to use them LOL)

The last decade+ has been a mostly unsuccessful effort to unlearn this bad behavior. But I'm generally okay with it because I live in a glass house here.

Semicolons are some alien shit though, I don't recognize their existence. Maybe once a year I'll try to use one. Correctly? Hell if I know.

_Blur_ posted...

Those comments could be intending to add a subject to that line. "That's wild; and it's fully deserved" works.

But I agree, semicolons are too tryhard for casual conversation

Ironically the last sentence is where you should use a semicolon

_Blur_ posted...

Those comments could be intending to add a subject to that line. "That's wild; and it's fully deserved" works.

you wouldn't use both "and" and a semicolon there. you'd use a comma there (if you want) like i said earlier, since "and" is what's joining the independent clauses

Leonhart4 posted...

Ironically the last sentence is where you should use a semicolon

Lmao you're right

NFUN posted...

you wouldn't use both "and" and a semicolon there. you'd use a comma there (if you want) like i said earlier, since "and" is what's joining the independent clauses

As are you

I'm gonna go with the excuse that I'm working right now

_Blur_ posted...

Those comments could be intending to add a subject to that line. "That's wild; and it's fully deserved" works.

But I agree, semicolons are too tryhard for casual conversation

That is how I read the sentence yes. Omitting "it's" is purely conversational convenience, so I do still feel it is a full clause.

yeah, semicolon seems bizarre to suggest here; it's useful sometimes but i've definitely found myself going to that less and less

I don't think you should use a semicolon there

Who knows; maybe that's just me

SeabassDebeste posted...

fiction is pretty different from actual conversational writing tho

If you're claiming that we should base this on some unstated rules of comment-writing on youtube videos, I'm going to posit that literally anything goes.

Imagine, commenting on a YouTube video.

em dash

Use an em dashit's the best!

We all know

The best way to type pauses

It's like this

Duh

NFUN posted...

just add an "it's" after the "and" to be totally correct. This example is much less obnoxious than the comma splices and run-on sentences people usually abuse them for

See to me that makes it sound much more unnatural. Like I read it as the person would say it aloud and a person talking would omit the "it's" imo