General Question

6rant6's avatar

Help with punctuation?

Asked by 6rant6 (13710points) September 25th, 2011

I’ve written myself in to a corner, and I need some commas to help me out. But where?

I don’t actually say it out loud, but it comes up in my head more often than you’d guess. So does, “Let’s do this thing!”, “Bring it on!” and “It won’t be the first time someone has called be a tool of the devil.”

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9 Answers

jaytkay's avatar

No comma is needed after “So does”. That’s the only change I would make.

Some would place an ‘Oxford comma’ after “Bring it on!”

Jeruba's avatar

Your verb has to be plural: “So do” (without the comma). Your subjects are the list of expressions. No comma because you are not quoting dialogue.

The stacked marks of punctuation look weird but are relatively correct. A purist editor would place the comma within the quotes for an American audience (“Bring it on!,” and); I would put it outside on aesthetic grounds. And I do use the series (Oxford) comma.

So does do “Let’s do this thing!”, “Bring it on!”, and “It won’t be the first time someone has called be me a tool of the devil.”

PhiNotPi's avatar

So does, “Let’s do this thing!”, “Bring it on!” and “It won’t be the first time someone has called be a tool of the devil.”

Should probably be:

So does “Let’s do this thing,” “Bring it on!” and “It won’t be the first time someone has called be a tool of the devil.”

The thing that confuses me is the !”,
Normally punctuation always goes inside quotation marks, but there is an exclamation point followed by a comma. Seems weird.

Looks like @Jeruba, the expert on these things, beat me.

CaptainHarley's avatar

@PhiNotPi

That’s because it IS weird! Heh! Drop the exclamation point and add the comma ( with all commas before close quotation ) and you’ll do just fine. Other than that, I agree with Jeruba. : )

Jeruba's avatar

Alternative: never mind punctuating as speech and just cite the expressions as expressions:

So do “let’s do this thing,” “bring it on,” and “It won’t be the first time someone has called me a tool of the devil.”

Note initial lowercase and no preceding commas.

If I were your editor, this is what I would suggest.

zensky's avatar

I don’t actually say it out loud, but it comes up in my head more often than you’d guess, as do: “Let’s do this thing!”, “Bring it on!” and “It won’t be the first time someone has called be a tool of the devil.”

Ivan's avatar

@Jeruba nailed it.

jaytkay's avatar

Agreed, follow Jeruba’s advice.

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