comma or colon after 'be sure of': thing he was sure of, letting her

M

Max_author_to_be

Member
English - Australian
Hello,
This sentence sounds ok to my ear, but is the use of the comma gramatically correct or acceptable?
Is it supposed to be a colon? (I would rather not use a colon).
And if I put 'was' in there it sounds bad.

"One thing he was sure of, letting her stay at his house was definitely a bad idea."
 
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    • If not a colon, then why not a dash? I had to pause for a split second to think after the comma, thinking that something was missing. But it may be just me...
     
    I like boozer's idea of a dash, if you don't want to use a colon:thumbsup:. (Why don't you want to use a colon?:))

    Alternatively, you could replace the comma with "was that":
    One thing he was sure of was that letting her stay at his house was definitely a bad idea.
     
    Thanks Boozer, Franco and Loob,

    I would rather not use a colon because I think they are distracting. I try to stick to simple punctuation if I can. Now that Loob wrote the sentence with "was that" it doesn't look so bad. I might go with that.

    Max.
     
    Yes, Loob's suggestion flows wonderfully. Incidentally, this is exactly the reason why I find it less dramatic than your initial version. :) But you know what best suits your purposes. :)
     
    boozer said:
    I find it less dramatic than your initial version. :)
    Click to expand...
    Good point, boozer....

    But then, I'd have used a colon in max's sentence - I see colons as just as much "simple punctuation" as commas:D.
     
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