My friend and I are having a debate over comma usage between adjectives. I figured there might be a few gifted writers or grammar aficionados on ClutchFans. Would the correct punctuation be: She had a nice, flat stomach. OR She had a nice flat stomach.
Depends. Are you trying to say: 1. Her stomach was nice. 2. Her stomach was flat. OR Her stomach was nice because it was flat. ??
Wouldn't it depend on whether the adjective "nice" is referring to the flatness of the stomach or the stomach itself? For instance, "nice flat stomach" would work. However, "huge, bouncing melons" also works.
The second sentence is correct. To determine whether a comma is needed, substitute and for the comma or change the order. If it sounds wrong or it changes the meaning, do not use a comma.
I was always told that the first sentence is correct. If you want to use a third adjective, you would and an "and" after the second adjective. Of course, would the correct usage be: She has a nice, flat, and firm stomach or She has a nice, flat and firm stomach I could never tell if that second comma goes in there
"She had a nice, flat stomach." <- is correct. If you wanted "nice" to modify "flat", it would have been "nicely flat stomach". Other than the use of the comma, you could have also said "She had a nice and flat stomach", but you can choose to use the comma instead of the conjunction "and". EDIT: rule #5 in http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm .
What's the real story? Did your wife let herself go after she got married? Mrs. rimrocker's stomach is nice and flat.
More than you want to know about coordinate modifiers. If the first sentence were correct, the following sentence would also be correct: She had a flat, nice stomach. Flat and nice do not have equal grammatical rank.
What about punctuation in quotation marks? I struggle with this all the time. He said, "Pardon me ma'am....your headlights look like they're on high-beams today." or He said, "Pardon me ma'am....your headlights look like they're on high-beams today".
I guess it would be that her stomach was nice because it was flat. So, in this usage and after looking over weslinder's link, it seems like it should be: "nice flat stomach".
You're interpreting the sentence differently from the rest of us. We say #1 is right b/c we think they do have equal rank.
I agree with this, but the question was not if this were true or not. I think we're on to something here... I remember ranking, like place, origin, etc., as rank, but that wasn't the question. His statement is weird, though. It should have been "She has a nice and flat stomach" or "She has a flat and nice stomach", don't you think?
#1 is correct. When it is a full sentence, the period goes inside the quotes. When it is just a phrase or word in quotes that ends a sentence (not spoken from a person), then the period goes outside the quotes.
ok, thread maker has responded with his meaning, so i guess you were on point (albeit, by luck) weslinder
The FIRST ONE is correct, because you're quoting the entire sentence, not quoting just a piece of it.
Huh, I thought about this a lot myself and even researched on it not long ago. Mostly it's a American-English vs British-English thing. So long you keep it consistent, you're OK. However, there are a few exceptions you need to know. This is a good reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark (check the Typographical considerations - Punctuation section)
