5

Is there a pause after is that requires a comma in the following sentence?

First of all, it’s important to know what the flu vaccine is(,) to be able to decide if we really need it.

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    MODERATOR NOTE: Answers go in the answer box, not the comment box. Commented Aug 16 at 14:26
  • 4
    Question: was that taken from someone's speech or are you writing that? Commented Aug 16 at 14:51
  • @Lambie, I wrote that. Commented Aug 17 at 8:30

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
10

Generally, when (in order) to is placed in the middle of the sentence, the comma is unnecessary, as you can see in this example provided by Cambridge:

We all need stress in order to achieve and do our best work.

or, again from Cambridge

I'm going there to see my sister.

However, the comma is a tool in the hands of the writer, and it can help in seamlessly placing emphasis in a sentence. I would consider the use of the comma in your example rather successful, since it helps emphasise the main information of the sentence: it’s important to know what the flu vaccine is, while the rest of the sentence takes a secondary place.

The author of the sentence is saying:

First of all, I am telling you the main information, and then I am going to tell you why it is important.

It is true that without in order, to can be ambiguous and requires an effort from the reader to really think of the structure of what the author is saying.

If you do decide on using in order to, you can drop the comma if your intention is to put more emphasis on the reason why it’s important to know what the flu vaccine is:

First of all, it’s important to know what the flu vaccine is in order to [be able to] decide if we really need it.

So, without the comma there is a different nuance. The author is saying:

If we are to decide whether we really need this vaccine, it's important to know what it is.

Improve this answer
2
  • Personally, I interpret the comma as simply making the sentence easier to parse. I don't think the comma adds any semantic nuance at all (except for making the sentence more informal, since IMO it's not "proper" in formal writing). At least, this is my perspective as a native AmEng speaker. Commented Aug 18 at 0:42
  • I disagree. The main idea being expressed is the making of a decision. (Is it open to debate? Must a decision be made? Why are we here? What are you driving at? Oh, I see... We're to consider making a decision... about something...) Understanding a vaccine, the thing being discussed, is subordinate to the primary theme of making a decision about them... Cart before the horse, imo... Commented Aug 19 at 10:23
4

It's overly simplistic to equate commas with pauses.

Pauses are a facet of speech. They are for rhythm, breath, emphasis, and intonation.

Commas are part of writing. They are punctuation marks that follow grammatical conventions.

It's true that we often pause for breath at a comma when reading, and that natural pauses in speech would correspond to a comma if it were written down. But we don't insert a comma into writing to force someone to pause when reading.

The comma in your example is a punctuation error. The phrase "to be able to decide" belongs with "know what the flu vaccine is" because it tells us why we need to know. The comma wrongly splits them into two clauses. It shouldn't be there from a written grammar perspective, and it shouldn't be there to denote a 'pause' in speech. If the writer wanted the reader to emphasise the word "is" (and possibly triggering a natural pause), they would probably have used italics to highlight the word.

It's also worth noting that commas are not usually used in quoted speech or prose to indicate an unnatural pause, either, because it would be mistaken for a punctuation error. Most writers use ellipsis (eg "I... can't... quite...reach!")

Improve this answer
3
  • Doesn't "to be able to decide..." modify "It's important" not "know what the flu vaccine is"? It's explaining why it's important. Commented Aug 17 at 12:57
  • 1
    The comma doesn't feel wrong to me, but definitely informal—I wouldn't advise the OP to use the comma in academic or formal writing (and then reword the rest of the sentence for clarity, e.g. by explicitly writing out "in order to"). Commented Aug 18 at 0:37
  • @JoshGrosso To me, I want to know what it is, to be able to decide whether I need it communicates what you want as well as the reason for your request, whereas I want to know what it is to be able to decide whether I need it is premised on earlier having already stated your want. I agree with Astralbee's answer—and largely with fev's, though I do think that this bears repeating: "We don't insert a comma [or colon] into writing to force someone to pause when reading; commas are not usually used in quoted speech or prose to indicate an unnatural pause, either." Commented Aug 19 at 8:02
-1

There's several things going on here.

When spoken, it can make sense to pause at that time, especially when stressing the preceding word:

First of all, it’s important to know what the flu vaccine is [pause] to be able to decide if we really need it.

When written, the pause is not necessary because the stress is not visible anyway.

First of all, it’s important to know what the flu vaccine is to be able to decide if we really need it.

However, it is unclear what the goal of your quoted text is. There are cases where introducing a pause can still make sense:

  • When the author is habitually using stress indicators, and therefore wants to indicate pauses (which further enhance the stressed parts)
  • When this is transcribing what someone said out loud, intending to capture the message as accurately as possible
    • This applies to both fiction (character speech) and non-fiction (meeting/speech transcription)

When and if there is a justification to add stress in the written form, it can become equally justifiable to use commas to indicate pauses.

But there are no hard and fast rules for that, this is not a matter of grammatical necessity, it is a matter of attempting to transcribe non-verbal content that adds something to the message that the written word otherwise cannot capture.

Improve this answer
1
  • I agree; Astralbee is too prescriptive here. The traditional view 'the only acceptable use of commas is to dictate ayntax' is by no means universally accepted now. If you'd added supporting references, I'd possibly have upvoted. But this has all been argued before (with supporting references). Commented Aug 18 at 23:45

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.