Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

Is a comma after "curt" unnecessary, is it?

“Give me a report on what U.S. attorneys slots are vacant or expected to be open soon,” he wrote to his deputy, J. Scott Jennings, in a late evening e-mail message on Nov. 25, 2006. Mr. Jennings replied with a curt, “Yes, sir.”
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Hiromichi

[pugachevV]

In this case the comma is necessary to indicate a slight pause before quoting his actual words.

[hiromichi]

pugachevV:
Thank you very much.
My tag question should have been "isn't it ?"
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Hiromichi

[redset]

Hi Hiromichi

A question tag comes after a statement, we don't add them to a sentence which is already a question. So you could say:

'A comma after "curt" is unnecessary, isn't it?'
or
'A comma after "curt" isn't necessary, is it?'

[hiromichi]

redset:
Thank you for your reminding me of my mistake.
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Hiromichi