by Bobbie Christmas
Q: If I could find this in CMOS, I wouldn’t bother you. In one of Bobbie’s reports (Highlights of Chicago Style) it says: “Chicago style does not use a comma after a brief introductory phrase, except when needed for clarity.”
My 16th edition, page 311, says about the comma: “Especially in spoken contexts, it usually denotes a slight pause. Effective use of the comma involves good judgment, with ease of reading the end in view.” Page 319, 6.36 says: “An introductory adverbial phrase is often set off by a comma but need not be unless misreading is likely. Shorter adverbial phrases are less likely to merit a comma than longer ones.”
From these lines I surmised that really short introductory phrases, such as “So, And, But” would not need the comma unless you hear the comma when reading the sentence.
I have just looked over an article online by ProWritingAid, which says sentences beginning with “So” used as a filler word should be followed by a comma. Here are two examples:
So, do you think you’ll be able to meet your deadline for the report?
So, I told him that I didn’t think this was a great time to start a relationship.
I have been leaving commas off in such places, unless I would have said it with a significant pause. Is ProWritingAid off base, or is this correct? I think these examples are both clear without the commas, and I think too many commas clutter writing, but I want to be correct and not edit the work of other writers incorrectly.
A: Your question quotes an earlier edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. CMOS 17th edition, 6.33 (page 380) says this about commas with introductory phrases: “Whether to use a comma to set off an introductory phrase can depend on the type of phrase, its relationship to the rest of the sentence, and its length.” The book addresses participial phrases and adverbial phrases in another section, but “so” doesn’t fall into those categories.
The same page covers an introductory “yes,” “no,” “okay,” “well,” and the like, and sets them off with a comma, and it also sets of “Oh” and “Ah,” but it doesn’t address “so.”
Here’s my take: Most of the time “so” as an introductory word in dialogue is superfluous and should be deleted. If it’s vital in some way, though, I would put a comma after it.
As for starting a sentence with the word “so” in narrative, not dialogue, that’s another matter. I often pull sentences together to avoid that usage. As an example the original might go like this: The war ended on a Thursday. So the country celebrated for four days. My recast would go like this: The war ended on a Thursday, so the country celebrated for four days.
If I’m writing the dialogue and not quoting someone, I’d either pull sentences together, in which case “so” is preceded by a comma, or eliminate “so” at the start of any dialogue. It often becomes repetitive, and as used, it’s an expletive. By definition an expletive is “a syllable, word, or phrase inserted to fill a vacancy without adding to the sense.”
Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more Ask the Book Doctor questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.
