I am wondering if I need a comma in the following sentence. Starting sentences with "so" isn't a trend or a thing. Updated June 5, 2020 Derek Haines 6201 Views 1 Comment I am sure you must recall your high school English teacher telling you that starting a sentence with a conjunction was wrong. 1. Stack Exchange Network. The issue comes in what different people think “so” is, or at least in how they use it. For example, "Sally is terrified of flying. So much so, she won't pick up a friend at the airport. The conjunction so in this compound sentence implies that the first part, “I love grammar,” is the cause of the second part, “I do research on it and write about it.” In addition, it prevents a comma splice. There are a couple of reasons why we wouldn’t normally see a comma-followed so in writing. (2) I love grammar, so I do research on it and write about it. Starting with so. While a period ends a sentence, a comma indicates a smaller break. Ordinarily, "so much so" should not begin a sentence. The adverb’s purpose is to modify the whole sentence or a clause. (Read this article for more about comma splices.). 'Many usages guides have tried to restrict the usage of "however," suggesting it cannot start a sentence, be used with "but," or replace "nevertheless," but none of these guides can agree and there is ample historical evidence of "however" being used at the start of a sentence. Starting with so. In a speech, however, the repetition of the words at the beginning of three or more consecutive faux sentences could be appropriate and perhaps make the content of the sentences more memorable. What Is a Comma? Here’s a tip: Commas can be tricky, but they don’t have to trip you up.
If the sentence was the other way around (We . However it may strike you, people aren't doing it any more frequently than they were 50 or 100 years ago. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, … The puppy was cute, so I picked it up. Some writers think of a comma as a soft pause—a punctuation mark that separates words, clauses, or ideas within a sentence. Starting sentences with "so" isn't a trend or a thing. Often so is used in a similar way as the last example, as a conjunction, but placed at the start of a sentence; The puppy was cute. And then, we come to using so at the start of a sentence. "So what we want to do is build a pipeline of experiences for people to have." To further our understanding of this phenomenon(,) we conducted yet another experiment. The exception, in my opinion, is with the word “so.” I like a little comma action when I start a sentence with “so.” And this guy at Just Publishing Advice agrees with me:. So, I picked it up. The puppy was cute, so I picked it up. Example sentences with the word so.
A sentence adverb—used to express the narrator or viewpoint character’s attitude toward the sentiment conveyed by the sentence—is separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma. You can start a sentence with four of them in my dialect of English, but be aware of what you are doing. And then, we come to using so at the start of a sentence. so example sentences. You are allowed to start a sentence with 'however.
In formal writing, so at the beginning of a sentence would not likely be followed by a comma. There are (at least) six so’s in English.
No.
The adverb’s purpose is to modify the whole sentence or a clause.
So, I picked it up. A Quick Trick for Deciding If You Need a Comma before “So” If you are unsure if you should place a comma before so in the middle of your sentence, try replacing so with “therefore” or “so that.” If your sentence seems to work with a replacement of “therefore” without changing the meaning of the sentence, then so is a coordinating conjunction and should have a comma before it. But if you were using it at the beginning of a sentence as a synonym for “Thus,” I wouldn’t tend to use the comma: “So Caesar proceeded to the Forum…” Jasmine on October 24, 2019 5:40 pm. However it may strike you, people aren't doing it any more frequently than they were 50 or 100 years ago. Often so is used in a similar way as the last example, as a conjunction, but placed at the start of a sentence; The puppy was cute.
A sentence adverb—used to express the narrator or viewpoint character’s attitude toward the sentiment conveyed by the sentence—is separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma. One so is a gradability marker: She was so tall that she had to duck to pass through the door. How to use so in a sentence. What to Know. Just be sure that your sentence adverb is actually modifying the entire sentence and not just one verb or an adjective. So, Can You Start A Sentence With But, And Or Yet?