Yeah I think this one is pretty much what it says on the tin.

  • s38b35M5
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    2 days ago

    Can’t read past the superfluous comma. Send help

    • Krauerking@lemy.lolOP
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      2 days ago

      Is it? Seems like it being the proper noun of this, it would be separated in proper grammar by a comma.

        • Krauerking@lemy.lolOP
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          2 days ago

          I had a question mark. I can’t tell if you are trying to be unhelpful or just trolling.

          • MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io
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            2 days ago

            Ok. Since you seem to be genuine, I’ll put in the work.

            1. Proper nouns don’t get automatically separated; they get capitalized.

            2. Maybe I’m reading too deep into “the proper noun of this”, but a proper noun is not generally a structural component of a sentence. Properness is an aspect of a noun.

            3. ‘True love’ is the ‘subject’ of the sentence, but it is not normally considered a proper noun. A proper noun is the title or name of a noun, such as: Brian, Marseilles, or Shake Weight.

            4. You may be misapplying the rule about directly addressing someone (or something). You would write: “Jimmy, get down from there,” or “Get down from there, Jimmy,” but you wouldn’t write “I’m going to, Walmart, for groceries.” This usage is often a proper noun, but it doesn’t need to be, such as in “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.”

            • Krauerking@lemy.lolOP
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              1 day ago

              Yeah meant subject, meh, my English teacher grandmother would be as equally frustrated with me as she has always been.

              But also I would still argue True Love is a proper noun of a named thing. We all recognize it as a component of a spell or a macguffin of a story.

              So in this case I am providing a definition of a word such as one for a spelling bee. Thus it introduces a pause when spoken.

              • groet@feddit.org
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                1 day ago

                Commas are not pauses though. You dont put a comma just because you would put a pause in a spoken sentence. They are a part of grammar meant to reduce ambiguity by separating parts of a sentence.

                Very often, you can remove the part separated by the comma and still end up with a full sentence (the “very often” can be removed). If you remove the “True Love” from your post, the rest is not a sentence anymore (here the whole “if …” part can be removed).

                Just accept that the comma is wrong…

                • Krauerking@lemy.lolOP
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                  22 hours ago

                  Actually commas are specifically to be read as a pause. One that I did want to be read in there.

                  It may have been silly but, that is how I said it aloud and how I wanted it to be read. While it may have been extra, that is what I was going for.

                  • s38b35M5
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                    21 hours ago

                    Fun thread.

                    Actually commas are specifically to be read as a pause. One that I did want to be read in there.

                    It may have been silly but, that is how I said it aloud, and how I wanted it to be read. While it may have been extra, that is what I was going for.

                    Your lack of commas in the first sentence above implies that “actually commas” are a kind of comma. A comma of the actually variety.

                    The third sentence just needs the comma moved in front of the word, “but,” unless you are saying the title was, “silly but,” which isn’t a kind of silly (though my kids used to get, “silly butt,” when they were tired). Your final sentence above is spot-on, but not just, “because you pause.” You pause because of the independent clauses. “It may have been extra,” and, “That is what I was going for,” are independent clauses that could stand on their own as separate sentences, so you join them with a comma and add, “while.”

                    You’re saying it out loud incorrectly.

                    The main thing with your title is that the pause doesn’t belong there, even if you think you should say it aloud that way. Just because Sir David Attenborough might say it that way doesn’t mean you write it that way.

                    I’ll fix the quoted comment for you:

                    Actually, commas are specifically to be read as a pause; one that I did want to be read in there.

                    It may have been silly, but that is how I said it aloud and how I wanted it to be read. While it may have been extra, that is what I was going for.