Is comma needed here?

[momto4kings]

"For a while, the crafty leopard chased his tail."

 

"Closer and closer, came the deer."

 

Why or why not?

 

Thanks.

[Peplophoros]

"For a while, the crafty leopard chased his tail."

 

"Closer and closer, came the deer."

 

Why or why not?

 

 

No commas for either.

 

I'm sure others will refute me, but I learned in high school that in general, short prepositional phrases (three words or less) don't need a comma.

 

"Closer and closer" are simply two adverbs in a row, and don't need commas either. If you had another adverb, then it would count as a "list" and would need commas for separation.

 

Sound good? :huh:

[Peplophoros]

That is, short prepositional phrases coming at the beginning of a sentence.

[morosophe]

Hey, just consider this a confirmation of momPhD's post, since she managed to answer it a lot faster than I did, and with exactly the same answers.

If this were a thread on something legal, I would begin this post with "IANAL." Instead, I'll have to settle for "IANAG" (I Am Not A Grammarian); I don't know the technical terms for everything, and I'm sure I've misidentified something below. Hopefully, someone will come along to correct my identification. However, I do think I've answered the question correctly.

 

"For a while, the crafty leopard chased his tail."

 

The comma is allowed here, but not necessary (depending on which style manual you follow). The introductory phrase is a prepositional one, and when less than four words long, you can omit the comma without trouble. If the prepositional phrase were longer, the comma would be mandatory: See the beginning of this post, above, for an example starting with "If."

 

"Closer and closer, came the deer."

 

Why or why not?

 

Thanks.

 

Here, the comma is NOT allowed. You've reversed the "normal" order of the sentence, which is fine, but consider it in traditional subject/predicate order: "The deer came closer and closer." Would you put a comma between "came" and the phrase "closer and closer" there? Grammatically, "closer" is acting as an adverb modifying "came" (by answering the question "Where?"), with the second "closer" acting as an intensifier. Would you put a comma in "Quickly, came the deer"?

[momto4kings]

Thanks, this make sense.

[kristinannie]

Hey, just consider this a confirmation of momPhD's post, since she managed to answer it a lot faster than I did, and with exactly the same answers.

If this were a thread on something legal, I would begin this post with "IANAL." Instead, I'll have to settle for "IANAG" (I Am Not A Grammarian); I don't know the technical terms for everything, and I'm sure I've misidentified something below. Hopefully, someone will come along to correct my identification. However, I do think I've answered the question correctly.

 

 

 

The comma is allowed here, but not necessary (depending on which style manual you follow). The introductory phrase is a prepositional one, and when less than four words long, you can omit the comma without trouble. If the prepositional phrase were longer, the comma would be mandatory: See the beginning of this post, above, for an example starting with "If."

 

 

 

Here, the comma is NOT allowed. You've reversed the "normal" order of the sentence, which is fine, but consider it in traditional subject/predicate order: "The deer came closer and closer." Would you put a comma between "came" and the phrase "closer and closer" there? Grammatically, "closer" is acting as an adverb modifying "came" (by answering the question "Where?"), with the second "closer" acting as an intensifier. Would you put a comma in "Quickly, came the deer"?

 

This is what my gut told me, but I am glad to know the reasons now!

[razorbackmama]

Agreeing with the others.

 

Since there is only 1 prepositional phrase beginning sentence 1, and it's not confusing without the comma, one is not needed.

 

In sentence 2 a comma is splitting the verb and its modifier. It pains me to see a comma there.:tongue_smilie:

[kristi26]

Hey, just consider this a confirmation of momPhD's post, since she managed to answer it a lot faster than I did, and with exactly the same answers.

If this were a thread on something legal, I would begin this post with "IANAL." Instead, I'll have to settle for "IANAG" (I Am Not A Grammarian); I don't know the technical terms for everything, and I'm sure I've misidentified something below. Hopefully, someone will come along to correct my identification. However, I do think I've answered the question correctly.

 

 

 

The comma is allowed here, but not necessary (depending on which style manual you follow). The introductory phrase is a prepositional one, and when less than four words long, you can omit the comma without trouble. If the prepositional phrase were longer, the comma would be mandatory: See the beginning of this post, above, for an example starting with "If."

 

 

 

Here, the comma is NOT allowed. You've reversed the "normal" order of the sentence, which is fine, but consider it in traditional subject/predicate order: "The deer came closer and closer." Would you put a comma between "came" and the phrase "closer and closer" there? Grammatically, "closer" is acting as an adverb modifying "came" (by answering the question "Where?"), with the second "closer" acting as an intensifier. Would you put a comma in "Quickly, came the deer"?

 

:iagree: This is exactly what I was thinking but she answered before me, so there you go. :)