comma after 'why' [interjection]: "Why thank you," a voice says from

[Rabelaisian]

Please have a look at these two lines of dialogue:

“They were incredible,” he says to himself.
“Why thank you,” a voice says from behind him.

Is that "Why thank you," which is said both calmly and briskly, okay without a comma after "Why"?

Thanks.

Source: me.

 

[entangledbank]

Yes, I wouldn't use a comma after this 'why', as it's always said smoothly with what follows. Actually that's not true, as it's never said these days, but I think when it was said, it was intonationally joined to the rest - as 'well' and 'now' often are today. ('Well I will then.' - 'Now that's another good point.')

 

[Rabelaisian]

So you personally don't put a comma after "well" either, then? For example: "Well, I agree with him."

 

[Myridon]

Yes, I wouldn't use a comma after this 'why', as it's always said smoothly with what follows.

I would say "Why, thank you!" like "Whyyyy... THANK you!" - not smoothly at all. I would write it with a comma.

 

[Rabelaisian]

I would say "Why, thank you!" like "Whyyyy... THANK you!" - not smoothly at all. I would write it with a comma.

Oh, yeah, in a case like that, I would definitely use a comma because there's a heavy pause there, but I was asking in regard to a specific situation like in my example where it is said smoothly and briskly without a pause.

 

[Myridon]

I was asking in regard to a specific situation like in my example where it is said smoothly and briskly without a pause.

There is no such situation as far as I'm concerned. If it were said in the vacuum of space where there is no sound, I would write it like "". What's the point of that?

 

[RM1(SS)]

“Why thank you,” a voice says from behind him.

"I don't know - why thank me?"

 

[Rabelaisian]

"I don't know - why thank me?"

There's no question mark after "you." It's a comma, which would have been superseded by a question mark if it were a question. And a very weird question it would be in that context too.

 

[RM1(SS)]

A rhetorical question doesn't necessarily require a question mark.

 

[Rabelaisian]

But "Why thank you?" wouldn't be rhetorical.

 

[RM1(SS)]

My point is that "Why thank you" fits the pattern of "[interrogative] [verb] [object]" - a question. As an exclamation - "Why, thank you!" - it needs the comma.