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That's a line from a Twilight book. It's a grammar mistake pointed out by this website.

She sighed, and began whispering again.

I don't see anything wrong with it. Is the comma the mistake?

JEL
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wyc
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    It's worth pointing out that the post you reference is just some guy writing on the forum. – DJClayworth Nov 04 '13 at 14:38
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    @DJClayworth Although I can imagine someone named Bethany preferring not to be called "some guy". –  Nov 05 '13 at 04:54

10 Answers10

48

There's nothing wrong with that sentence.

Some would say that the comma is unnecessary so it should be removed. But it's certainly not wrong, and it could usefully indicate a pause between the sigh and the whisper. In any case, commas are punctuation, not grammar.

People who delight in pointing out others' grammar mistakes usually know less about grammar than they think.

Edit

There's further discussion of the purpose of the comma in the comments below, but here's a quote from Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss that explains it nicely:

“Thurber was asked by a correspondent: "Why did you have a comma in the sentence, 'After dinner, the men went into the living-room'?" And his answer was probably one of the loveliest things ever said about punctuation. "This particular comma," Thurber explained, "was Ross's way of giving the men time to push back their chairs and stand up.”

Hat tip to FumbleFingers.

Community
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Pitarou
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    Totally agree with the last line. – Sorter Nov 05 '13 at 09:59
  • Totally agree with this clause: 'it could usefully indicate a pause between the sigh and the whisper' . Have you an authority that sanctions the indicate-a-pause-rather-than-fulfil-a-purely-syntactic-role usage of the comma? I've lost one! This comes close: --a comma is often thought to indicate a pause or a breath - sometimes, however, if it is placed in an odd position it could create confusion ... A comma gives the impression of a quick breath, the dash slightly longer, and the ellipsis is longer still. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '13 at 10:41
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    @EdwinAshworth I think a punctuation guide would probably say that the comma is usually unnecessary, and is best omitted unless you have a good reason to keep it. And here, the comma suggests to the reader a slight pause in the action: that's a good reason. – Pitarou Nov 06 '13 at 04:03
  • @EdwinAshworth If you want an in-depth analysis, you have to think at three levels: the story (in the author's head), the human speech that narrates those actions (also in the author's head), and the textual representation of that narration. The author imagines a slight pause in the action, translates that to a pause in the spoken narration, and translates that to a comma that she would otherwise omit. – Pitarou Nov 06 '13 at 04:04
  • Sadly, most guides I've come across omit the 'unless you have a good reason to keep it' dispensation, and I've seen very few considering manner of speaking per se a good reason. I might just lift your comments – they're eminently quotable. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 06 '13 at 09:40
  • I'm flattered you think me quotable. Things like authorial voice are a matter that most grammar authorities leave well alone, and for good reason. If you're a creative writer, and you say, "I chose to write it like that, because I just think it's better that way." then no grammarian can argue with you. In any case, many "rules" for formal writing are really stylistic guidelines applied with too much zeal. E.g. never begin a sentence with a conjunction; avoid the passive voice; don't use 'that' for restrictive clauses; and a paragraph should be 2-5 sentences long. – Pitarou Nov 07 '13 at 01:05
35

The comma in this sentence is perfectly fine.

If you were to take it out, you'd subtly change the meaning of the sentence:

She sighed and began whispering again

might imply that she sighed again and began whispering again. By inserting the comma, the writer makes it clear that only the whispering is the repeated act, that she hadn't necessarily sighed before.

It's a very minor distinction (and others may disagree). Comma usage is often subjective.

The English Chicken
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The comma is the putative mistake. Typically, students are instructed not to put a comma between two coordinated predicates:

Shesubject sighedpredicate A [ and began whispering again ]predicate B

For many people, "grammar" is a collection of every language-related prohibition they've ever learned (or think they've learned). Presumably they've internalized the rule above, and are excited to catch someone breaking it. That is, after all, how you play the game of Grammar Gotcha.

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“When I saw him turning, I set my face towards home, and made the best use of my legs.”

-- Dickens, Great Expectations

“My proposal was to build a wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose.”

-- Franklin, Autobiography

It’s not difficult to find many, many more examples of this sort. If the OP is ungrammatical, it’s in good company!

(In other words, to be completely clear about it: it’s not.)

Ant
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  • The pedant who flagged the grammar mistake in the Twilight sentence would not have flagged the commas in your examples – you have made an apples-to-oranges comparison here. I think snailboat's answer nails it; neither of these break that "rule." – J.R. Nov 04 '13 at 09:59
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    @J.R.: isn't "I set my face towards home, and made the best use of my legs" an example of two coordinated predicates separated by a comma, making this an apples-to-apples comparison? – LarsH Nov 04 '13 at 11:04
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    @LarsH - You're right! Mea culpa. Nice catch. But I still think Ant would do well to find something better than the Franklin quote to illustrate the point, which still seems apples-to-oranges to me. – J.R. Nov 04 '13 at 11:22
  • @J.R. Fair enough – same issue as in our exchange above. If you think that the reason someone has judged the OP ungrammatical (other than having an axe to grind about certain popular fiction) is the ellipsis of “she”, then the Franklin quote is indeed not a counterexample. I hadn’t come across that “rule” prior to this discussion. – Ant Nov 04 '13 at 11:50
6

Tina Blue writes sagely about Comma usage with Compound Predicates:

As with other compound sentence elements, a compound predicate generally is not separated by a comma. Occasionally, however, if the parts of a compound predicate are unusually long, or if the writer feels the need for special emphasis, a comma can be used with a compound predicate. Such commas should be treated as a heavy spice, though, and used sparingly.

So the rule appears to be 'you must not use this construction unless you want to'.

My sort of rule.

I might use it here:

After dinner, the students will go into the lecture theatre and library and study to improve their knowledge of the great outdoors.

Edwin Ashworth
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I also think that sentence is perfectly okay.

It's also ( I know I have repeated 'also') an interesting construct because you do not grammatically require a comma, if the subject is the same but not stated, whereas 'She sighed, and she began whispering again, requires the comma because the subject 'she' is repeated in the subordinate clause.

However, I think this is a very good example of how English lets you play around with it, too.

Or if you like, the three sentences:

'She sighed, and began whispering again.'

'She sighed, and she began whispering again.', and

'She sighed and began whispering again.'

are all inherently different in their content and what their respective authors are communicating, and it is that that must be, in the final analysis, at least for me, the crucial deciding factor.

cliffyboy43
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The word 'again' makes me do a double take. Did she sigh again or just once? She sighed again. She began whispering again. The comma makes me feel like the is doing two things... again.

Random Person
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There's nothing wrong with the sentence but there are better ways to formulate it, especially for a book.

I would formulate it like this:

"She sighed before resuming/continuing to whisper."

When you formulate it this way you can add detail more easily.

Example:

"She sighed before resuming/continuing to whisper, unaware of her changed surroundings."

When you try it with the sentence you are using:

"She sighed, and began to whisper again, unaware of her changed surrounings."

It doesn't sound quite right does it?

Hope this helps :)

MilanSxD
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    To this native English speaker's ears, the one you think doesn't sound quite right actually sounds rather better... – calum_b Nov 04 '13 at 14:01
  • Twilight, being a fantasy book, would be better fitted with a bit "mystical" sentences. Also, notice the comma in the last example. When you pronounce that comma as a pause, it sounds really weird. At least it does to me. – MilanSxD Nov 04 '13 at 14:04
  • @MilanSxD Try sighing a little bit when you pronounce sighed. To my ear, that fits the rhythm suggested by the comma. –  Nov 04 '13 at 14:50
  • Don't you usually read the sentence first and then imagine what the sentence explains? "She sighed before continuing to whisper" sigh followed by the whispered sentences. But when you sigh while reading it, it goes like this: "She sigh sighed sigh, and began whispering again. You don't know what comes after "sighed" and thus don't know how to continue after it unless you read the sentence twice. And you shouldn't need to read it twice. – MilanSxD Nov 04 '13 at 15:13
  • @MilanSxD One usually needs to read ahead to know how to intonate a sentence. You are going to agree with me? – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 16:55
  • Hmm I used to write and I always wrote in such a way that you don't need to read ahead. Or as least as possible. I hate having to read ahead or read things twice :) – MilanSxD Nov 05 '13 at 08:41
  • "...resuming to whisper"? – nnnnnn Jan 20 '21 at 03:14
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I also do not see anything wrong with it but yes, there is no reason to put comma there. I think the comma is put by the author to denote a pause, but it is not grammatically correct according to the rules for comma usage.

You might want to see this: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm

Lester Nubla
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    The problem with prescriptionism is that it assume that a inviolable statute of grammar exists. The fact that you recognize the intention of having a comma there suggests that you understand that there is a reason why the comma is right where it is. – gelolopez Nov 04 '13 at 07:13
  • @LesterNubla I'd upvote this if you gave the alternative that should be used to denote a pause in this situation. – deworde Nov 04 '13 at 09:33
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    Er, according to your link this is grammatical under option 2. I'm afraid “it is not grammatically correct” is simply untrue. – Ant Nov 04 '13 at 09:36
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    @Ant - Read Rule 2 a bit more carefully. The key is independent clauses. Under that rule, a comma would be in order had the original sentence read: "She sighed, and she began whispering again." (Notice the extra pronoun in the example on the website: "He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base." Change the sentence, lose the comma: "He hit the ball well but ran toward third base.") – J.R. Nov 04 '13 at 10:06
  • There's nothing wrong, according to various analysts, with going the whole hog: She sighed. And began whispering again. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 10:38
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    @J.R. Interesting - you are using “independent” to mean something different from the way I use it. I would classify “[she] began whispering again” as independent, but, say, “when she began whispering again” as dependent. (And indeed this seems to be the definition used on the linked site – click on “independent clauses”.) If you think that ellipsis of the head makes a clause dependent, fair play, but I don’t think this is a usual analysis. – Ant Nov 04 '13 at 10:47
  • But who decided that Capital Community College Foundation were sole arbiters of 'the rules for comma usage'? – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 10:50
  • @EdwinAshworth Did you miss the memo? There was a vote about six weeks ago. At the same time the Pompeii Pizza Parlour took responsibility for the world’s supply of exclamation marks. – Ant Nov 04 '13 at 10:54
  • "Independent Clauses could stand by themselves as discrete sentences." Began whispering again, therefore, is not independent. @Edwin - there are plenty of other sites that give the same guidance. Getting back to the O.P.'s question, somebody has an axe to grind with Ms. Meyer, thinking she has sold more books than her writing is worth. That person is going to dig up any possible "violation" available to make a case. Whether or not the comma is "wrong" may be up for debate, but at least we can all agree on where the person who flagged the sentence probably believes the violation stems from. – J.R. Nov 04 '13 at 10:55
  • 'Began whispering again' is strictly not a dependent or an independent clause. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 10:55
  • @deworde I cannot think of any alternative for a pause. Reading again the semi-colon uses, I don't think that it fits. Enlighten me if you know a better way. :) – Lester Nubla Nov 04 '13 at 11:01
  • She sighed. Then, after a moment, she began whispering again. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 11:11
  • @EdwinAshworth please enlighten me. Is it a pause that you did or a stop? You replaced comma by a period. :) – Lester Nubla Nov 04 '13 at 11:15
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    @JR "She became silent; then, after sitting quietly in the corner pondering the magnitude of the injustice for what seemed an age, she sighed, and began crying again." I'd say that the comma before 'and began crying again' is almost necessary, to signal a natural slight pause between the related actions. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 11:21
  • @EdwinAshworth - "She sighed. Then, after a moment, she began whispering again." - This sounds like a longer pause, to me, than the original comma would. +1 with the "independent clauses" reason for the comma; ellipsis of the subject in second clause should be OK. – Alain BECKER Nov 04 '13 at 11:26
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    'Pause' isn't a punctuation-specific term; one sense of 'stop' is. The two-sentence rewrite certainly signals a pause. The comma signals a lesser one, but shouldn't be used when separate sentences are required because the two statements are not closely enough connected. It's useful to have both variants. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 11:29
  • @ Alain Saint-Etienne: (1) 'This sounds like a longer pause, to me, than the original comma would.' Agreed – see my last comment. I was merely giving an answer to Lester's 'I cannot think of any alternative for a pause' (though Lester seems to think that 'pauses' and 'stops' are disjoint terms). – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 11:43
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    (2) Judicious (?) ellipting can be used to justify almost any favoured construction. Purdue OWL is less accommodating: 13. Don't put a comma between the two verbs or verb phrases in a compound predicate. INCORRECT: We laid out our music and snacks, and began to study. INCORRECT: I turned the corner, and ran smack into a patrol car. I'm still looking for an authority that contests this rule (and believe me, I'm going to find one). – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '13 at 11:47
  • @gelolopez The main problem with prescriptionism is that the comma is not a word in the English language, and therefore has no role in its syntax. – Kaz Nov 04 '13 at 20:08
  • @Kaz But see Geoffrey Nunberg's The Linguistics of Punctuation for an alternative view in which punctuation is linguistically significant. –  Nov 04 '13 at 23:36
  • @Kaz Are you saying that the comma in 'Let's eat, Peter' does not have a syntactic role? It marks Peter off as a vocative rather than a direct object. For which Peter, for one, is grateful. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '13 at 11:47
  • @EdwinAshworth "Right gentlemen, we've clearly followed the rulebook here. Yes, the sentence is now two sentences, breaks the flow, highlights the pause rather than the sigh or the whispering, and conveys no more useful information than the original, but I think we can all agree that the rules have been followed at the acceptable cost of any poetry, power or common sense. Now, let's move on to making Captain Kirk 'go boldly where no man has gone before'." I mean, whose point were you trying to make? – deworde Nov 05 '13 at 13:14
  • @deworde Un-@ed comments are addressed to the answerer, by default. However, I'm not sure which comment of mine you're addressing. The main point I've been trying to get across is that the judgement 'it is not grammatically correct according to the rules for comma usage' is dependent on whose rules one accepts (see my answer). – Edwin Ashworth Nov 05 '13 at 22:53
  • This answer states both that you do not see anything wrong with the sentence and that the comma is grammatically incorrect - so you do see something wrong with it. (Incidentally, II don't agree that the comma is incorrect.) – nnnnnn Jan 20 '21 at 03:12
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The only reason it could be considered wrong, is that in the first case the past perfect can be used, as it had happened before she started to whisper.

Kris
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