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Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 10 Feb 2019, 10:20
by bookowlie
I would like to get some feedback about whether a comma is required for a frequency adverb at the beginning of a sentence. I was able to find some information on a grammar forum that quoted the Chicago Manual of Style. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the comma can be omitted.
Do frequency adverbs that go at the beginning of sentence need a comma?
Which of these alternatives, if any, is better?
Occasionally, I play football with my friends.
Occasionally I play football with my friends.
punctuation
shareimprove this question
edited Jan 16 '15 at 11:52
As neither variant is confusing, I'd use either, depending on whether I thought a pause sounded natural / desirable.
I often go swimming, and I love fishing, clay-pigeon shooting, and bird-spotting. I often go dancing. Occasionally, I play football with my friends.
but
I do get a reasonable amount of exercise. Occasionally I play football with my friends, but my real love is swimming.
If you want an authority to sanction this,
Chicago Manual of Style 5.69:
"When [transitional adverbs] are used in such a way that there is no real break in continuity and no call for any pause in reading, commas should be omitted.
Transitional adverbs are traditionally even more attached to their following commas than adverbs of frequency.
Note that some frequency adverbs require inversion if fronted:
Seldom / Rarely / Never does the king now venture beyond his palace walls.
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 11 Feb 2019, 08:35
by Espie
bookowlie wrote: ↑10 Feb 2019, 10:20
I would like to get some feedback about whether a comma is required for a frequency adverb at the beginning of a sentence. I was able to find some information on a grammar forum that quoted the Chicago Manual of Style. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the comma can be omitted.
Do frequency adverbs that go at the beginning of sentence need a comma?
Which of these alternatives, if any, is better?
Occasionally, I play football with my friends.
Occasionally I play football with my friends.
punctuation
shareimprove this question
edited Jan 16 '15 at 11:52
As neither variant is confusing, I'd use either, depending on whether I thought a pause sounded natural / desirable.
I often go swimming, and I love fishing, clay-pigeon shooting, and bird-spotting. I often go dancing. Occasionally, I play football with my friends.
but
I do get a reasonable amount of exercise. Occasionally I play football with my friends, but my real love is swimming.
If you want an authority to sanction this,
Chicago Manual of Style 5.69:
"When [transitional adverbs] are used in such a way that there is no real break in continuity and no call for any pause in reading, commas should be omitted.
Transitional adverbs are traditionally even more attached to their following commas than adverbs of frequency.
Note that some frequency adverbs require inversion if fronted:
Seldom / Rarely / Never does the king now venture beyond his palace walls.
1. Question: Is "Occasionally" a transitional word?
Answer: Yes.
References:
a.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitions_(linguistics) (It shows a "temporal" transition of "frequency".)
b.
https://www.smart-words.org/linking-wor ... words.html. (It has the "function of limiting, restricting, and defining time.")
2. Question: Is a comma required after a transitional word beginning a sentence?
Answer: I'm inclined to say yes but with reservations.
Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) 5.39 requires the comma(s) to set off a transitional adverb from the rest of the sentence per screen snapshot below. None of the examples where non-use had been allowed included transitional adverbs at the start of the sentence so far.
Thus, CMOS still runs in consonance with all the other references I've found stating that commas are required after transitional elements. If there are credible references which would say that it is
not required, I'd be interested to know, too.
References:
a.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... ommas.html (This advises the "(u)se (of) commas after introductory a) clauses, b) phrases, or c) words that come before the main clause.")
b.
http://www.englishessaywritingtips.com/ ... nctuation/
c.
https://www.nova.edu/tutoring-testing/s ... commas.pdf
d.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/style ... er/commas/
e.
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/part ... dverb.html (This states that "there's usually a comma after the conjunctive adverb" but doesn't specify when, why or how it doesn't happen.)
f.
https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli ... n_djvu.txt (This is the archived CMOS 13th Edition with screen snapshot below.)
- CMOS transition adverbs.JPG (64.78 KiB) Viewed 2852 times
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 11 Feb 2019, 09:59
by kandscreeley
In the instances you site at the beginning, I'd say either is acceptable. Much like you, I think it is dependent on the readability of the sentence. I've always heard that commas after opening clauses are only required if the opening clause is long (which is once again where we come to a crossroads because how long is long).
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 11 Feb 2019, 11:15
by bookowlie
Espie,
My request for feedback, and the info I attached, was regarding frequency adverbs at the beginning of a sentence, such as "Sometimes," "Occasionally."
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 11 Feb 2019, 19:22
by Espie
bookowlie wrote: ↑11 Feb 2019, 11:15
Espie,
My request for feedback, and the info I attached, was regarding frequency adverbs at the beginning of a sentence, such as "Sometimes," "Occasionally."
That was what I was responding to, Bookowlie; thank you for your confirmation. I believe you've quoted information from the following post on another site:
https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... ma-occasio.
In your sample sentence (i.e. "Occasionally, I play football with my friends."), the frequency adverb "Occasionally" is used as a transition word that requires a comma based on the sources I've found so far and cited in my earlier response to your post. Even CMOS says so; none of the CMOS examples shows that comma omission after transitional adverbs at the beginning of sentences are fine; and, the CMOS examples only included those in other parts of the sentence.
The sentence "Occasionally I play football with my friends, but I'm not a physically active person." that you quoted is not a CMOS example; it was merely a response from the non-CMOS site's contributor.
Nonetheless, like you, I'm also interested to know if there are further references for the comma non-usage relevant to your query that support the above non-CMOS site's example(s).
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 13 Mar 2019, 00:44
by Renu G
Microsoft Word automatically detects missing or erroneous commas. But, is it reliable, or another proofreading add-in is recommended?
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 13 Mar 2019, 08:38
by MrsCatInTheHat
Renu G wrote: ↑13 Mar 2019, 00:44
Microsoft Word automatically detects missing or erroneous commas. But, is it reliable, or another proofreading add-in is recommended?
I've found that the most recent version of Word misses quite a bit. I use it in conjunction with Grammarly. Grammarly isn't perfect either, but together, they do a good job.
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 13 Mar 2019, 14:33
by Renu G
Thank you for your response and suggestion!
Re: Comma/No Comma - Frequency Adverbs at the Beginning of a Sentence
Posted: 26 Mar 2019, 19:54
by roxy60sweet
The rule I followed for the comma was this: If you start a sentence with an introductory word or phrase , yes, a comma would be required. You do not need a comma if the word is used as an adverb in the middle of the sentence.