I disagreed with a couple of the answers in the comma section. One isolated sentence, presented without taking into account the context and emphasis the writer may be trying to convey? Context and emphasis can change the semantics of a sentence, therefore requiring a corresponding change in the syntax.
For example:
Pretend you're writing a story about ten people who want to go to a play. One guy goes out and buys tickets for everyone. When the night of the play arrives, the ten people meet in front of the theatre as planned. The guy sees that three extra people have shown up, totally out of the blue. None of them have tickets, but they all want to go to the play, too. He says, "I'm sorry, but I only got ten tickets." It's sold out, so there's nothing else they can do about it. The three newbies go home.
The original ten people go to the play, and sometime during the evening, the guy finds out that one of the others is angry at him. She starts questioning why there weren't enough tickets to go round. The guy says, "Well, duh! When I bought them, only ten people wanted to go--and then thirteen showed up tonight! Of course there weren't enough tickets to go round! How was I supposed to know the others would show up and want to go? Do you think I'm psychic?" She gets huffy, he tries to explain why ten is less than thirteen no matter how many fingers you use, and when an usher finally tells them to shut up or leave, the guy grabs a cab and goes home with a migraine.
So. Would it still be grammatically correct to put a comma after of course in that sentence, considering the context of your dialogue and the emphasis you want to convey? According to the quiz, it's incorrect if you don't put a comma there, no matter what. In this case, I say the quiz is wrong. I think you have to know how the sentence is meant to be expressed before you can decide if of course is an introductory clause.
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timeasmymeasure
Hmmm...
Date: 2004-07-22 07:50 am (UTC)For example:
Pretend you're writing a story about ten people who want to go to a play. One guy goes out and buys tickets for everyone. When the night of the play arrives, the ten people meet in front of the theatre as planned. The guy sees that three extra people have shown up, totally out of the blue. None of them have tickets, but they all want to go to the play, too. He says, "I'm sorry, but I only got ten tickets." It's sold out, so there's nothing else they can do about it. The three newbies go home.
The original ten people go to the play, and sometime during the evening, the guy finds out that one of the others is angry at him. She starts questioning why there weren't enough tickets to go round. The guy says, "Well, duh! When I bought them, only ten people wanted to go--and then thirteen showed up tonight! Of course there weren't enough tickets to go round! How was I supposed to know the others would show up and want to go? Do you think I'm psychic?" She gets huffy, he tries to explain why ten is less than thirteen no matter how many fingers you use, and when an usher finally tells them to shut up or leave, the guy grabs a cab and goes home with a migraine.
So. Would it still be grammatically correct to put a comma after of course in that sentence, considering the context of your dialogue and the emphasis you want to convey? According to the quiz, it's incorrect if you don't put a comma there, no matter what. In this case, I say the quiz is wrong. I think you have to know how the sentence is meant to be expressed before you can decide if of course is an introductory clause.
< /nitpick >