Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

Skitt:

Oh, wow.  I didn't even notice that when I read it.

} DE781 wrote:
}> Skitt:
}  
}>> There's also the difference that "now" can be and is used as a
}>> throwaway word, but "later" doesn't have those properties.
}>
}> That's why I chose to use "later" to illustrate an example of the
}> difference that *just* the addition/subtraction of a comma would
}> make, and how it wouldn't necessarily change emphasis.
}>
}>> Of
}>> course, the throwaway "now" should not be used in formal writing.
}>
}> Exactly.  Which is why emphasis MUST be used in non-formal writing,
}> since other weird things (the least of which is the throwaway "now")
}> also exist in informal writing that don't exist in formal.
}
} ... and the use of a comma after the throwaway "now" does that very nicely.

Skitt is correct.  At the very least I should have emphasized the "that" s
little more, as in:

  Now _that_ was cruel and uncalled-for.

My excuse is that I conjunctioned the "Now", giving it the stress and
punctuation I would give an "And" or a "But" in:

  And _that_ was cruel and uncalled-for.

or:

  But _that_ was cruel and uncalled for.

neither of which would take a comma there, and neither of which would be
given a pause after.

In a perfect world, it should indeed be:

  Now, that was cruel and uncalled for.

I dumbed it down for Rey, and I am practically ashamed of myself.