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I'm editing a marketing campaign. Out loud, one might say, "We promise it's a big deal." I believe there's an unspoken "that" in there: "We promise [that] it's a big deal." Would you punctuate the sentence differently with the missing word? My first instinct was no punctuation: "We promise it's a big deal." But on subsequent passes, it started to look more and more incorrect. It's very possible that I've gotten way too close to the words and can't see the logical, simple answer in front of me! Thanks for your help.

jme
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  • IMO, whether the punctuation is ok "as is" or needs something is entirely dependent on what kind of emphasis, if any, is used in the delivery of that statement. Will the announcer say, "We promise! It's a BIG deal!" or just straightforward like "We promise it's a big deal"? – Kristina Lopez Jan 19 '16 at 21:01
  • @FumbleFingers thanks! I didn't know how to phrase that question. The answers there were helpful. – jme Jan 19 '16 at 22:18

1 Answers1

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No comma is necessary. However, if you want to adde emphasis on promise, you could follow it with a comma. We promise, it's a big deal. which is in effect the same as "It's a big deal, we promise.`

OneProton
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  • The OP never mentions commas – FumbleFingers Jan 19 '16 at 21:03
  • @FumbleFingers Would you punctuate the sentence differently? – OneProton Jan 19 '16 at 21:08
  • One might also write "We promise: It's a big deal." – Hot Licks Jan 19 '16 at 21:09
  • B..b...but, the OP never mentions colons /s ^o^ – OneProton Jan 19 '16 at 21:10
  • Unless the actual text following the word *promise* was effectively reported speech (and even then probably only if the grammatical subject was a relatively long term), I'd be unlikely to bother with any punctuation (and if I did, I'd probably go for @Hot Licks's colon). But so far as I can see OP just needs help understanding how *that* works in such constructions. And that's a duplicate that's been covered many times before on ELU. – FumbleFingers Jan 19 '16 at 21:18