comma before 'too' [adverb, end position]: to university there, too.
- Thread starter PatrickK1
- Start date
It's difficult without an example.
Would you like to give us one ... please?
Would you like to give us one ... please?
I'm just curious if there's a general rule... Sometimes at the end of a sentence "too" is preceded by a comma, and sometimes it isn't.
For instance, would there be any difference between these two sentences:
"I went to university there, too."
"I went to university there too."
I have a hunch that it signals the difference between "I went there just like you," and "I went there in addition to another university." Thoughts?
For instance, would there be any difference between these two sentences:
"I went to university there, too."
"I went to university there too."
I have a hunch that it signals the difference between "I went there just like you," and "I went there in addition to another university." Thoughts?
At first, I can't see any difference in meaning between these two sentences, and I don't know whether I'd put the comma there or not.
Patrick's suggested difference is appealing, but I think that difference would be clear from context, regardless of punctuation.
Patrick's suggested difference is appealing, but I think that difference would be clear from context, regardless of punctuation.
Years and years ago I think we learned at school that the comma was compulsory before TOO, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in real life.
The two examples suggested by Patrick obviously mean two different things, but I'm not sure it's the comma that makes the difference.
The two examples suggested by Patrick obviously mean two different things, but I'm not sure it's the comma that makes the difference.
The Chicago Manual of Style Q & A column (of which I am inordinately fond) agrees that asking a comma to make a difference of meaning in a sentence like the one discussed is asking too much of a comma. (Their example is different, but the issue raised is the same.)
Their advice:
Their advice:
Use commas with too only when you want to emphasize an abrupt change of thought:
He didn’t know at first what hit him, but then, too, he hadn’t ever walked in a field strewn with garden rakes.
In most other cases, commas with this short adverb are unnecessary (an exception being sentences that begin with too—in the sense of also—a construction some writers would avoid as being too awkward).
MY solution to this question would require never using too when you mean also, especiallly at the end of a sentence where it dangles and sounds awkward.
