Comments on: Comma Before Too?

By: Jojo Bizarro

Jojo Bizarro — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:02:42 +0000

You mean that wacky comma is actually a rule!? I see lots of people leaving out commas where they shouldn’t but always plopping that frivolous comma in before sentence-final “too.” It just looks wrong to me. Seriously, it makes it look like it’s supposed to be read as “I like potatoes … (long pause) … TOO!!!!”

By: Dorothy Stout

Dorothy Stout — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:28:12 +0000

Is there a comma before the word well in a sentence, example

Nichole did this, well.

By: AG

AG — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:16:02 +0000

I am learning so much from your site. Thanks for all that you do. I think it’s great too (I just had to use too). Wait, I rhymed, can I enter this in the next poetry contest?

By: Precise Edit

Precise Edit — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:46:26 +0000

“We’re going shopping, out to dinner, and then to a movie, also.”

This sounds pretty natural to me. Maybe it’s a regional thing.

I might hear “as well” in that position, too.

On the other hand, I, too, have pondered whether or not that comma is always needed. Much like other conjunctive adverbs, though, it, too, seems to require that comma.

By: Brad K.

Brad K. — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:09:59 +0000

I find too to be a strange thing. It feels, when coupled with then or a similar phrase, more like a parenthetical expression. And I tend to use plenty of parentheses, but also use commas to set off parenthetical expressions (too).

OK, phrases and clauses, then. I trace the construct, to “also .. too” in that first paragraph.

Too, when set off by commas, is not a simple word with a quirky comma rule. That dangling too always hooks into an active part of the sentence – or you don’t need to use the commas. You don’t use a comma for too little or too big, or too loud. It isn’t the word, it is the sentence construction that demands the comma.

I could as well lament the commas needed for red and green in a sentence like: He chased the bouncy, red, green, and blue ball across the yard. (Separate multiple adjectives for the same noun with commas.)