[Debby G Posts: 648 Status: Offline WWW]

Help, please! My copyeditor wants to change this "I will too be able to ride the pony!" to "I will, too, be able to ride the pony!" She put commas around "too." Is that right? It doesn't seem right to me, but I'm not sure.

Please answer in the next few hours if you know!

[AnnH Posts: 1,524 Status: Offline I love to read and write! WWW]

Just personally, I don't think the commas are needed there.

According to this, it's up to you:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/when-use-comma-too

[mghiggins Posts: 301 Status: Offline WWW]

I disagree with your copyeditor! It may be technically correct, but it ruins the flow of the dialog.

[Vijaya Posts: 8,615 Status: Offline LISTEN. Let all mortal flesh keep silence ... WWW]

Your copyeditor is correct. But the flow is so much better if you put the too at the end of the sentence or near the beginning.

I will be able to ride the pony, too!

I, too, will be able to ride the pony!

Vijaya

[ruecole Posts: 475 Status: Offline MG Writer WWW]

No commas. The italics are doing the work there.

Hope that helps!

Rue

[LeslieG Posts: 220 Status: Offline WWW]

Agreeing on the comma-less version. It strikes me that your "too" is being used more as an synonym for "definitely" or "absolutely," rather than for "also," which would alter which rules of punctuation apply. Fwiw!

PS Another example that also occurred to me (overthinking this as I went on my daily walk :0) would be "That baby is too cute!" vs "That baby is, too, cute!" (If there isn't such a thing as a "too" of emphasis versus a "too" of addition, well, there should be!)

[Pons Posts: 3,477 Status: Offline]

Technically, your copy editor may be right, but the sentence is short and easily understood without the commas. The goal of punctuation is to make sentences easily understandable. This sentence is short and clear, and the commas are getting in the way. They are just annoying in this case.

If the copy editor is insistent, you could try rewriting the sentence as Vijaya suggested, or try something like "Yes, I will ride the pony."

Good luck.

[Debby G Posts: 648 Status: Offline WWW]

Thank you, all! And, Leslie, I think that's a great way of looking at it.

[mrh Posts: 4,687 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

I agree with you. The commas ruin it. Like Leslie says, "too" does not mean "also" in this case. The dialogue isn't saying, "I also can ride the pony." It's saying, "I CAN SO ride the pony, and you can't tell me I can't!"

No commas.

[Amanda Coppedge Posts: 483 Status: Offline WWW]

In dialogue the no-commas works because it is informal, opposite of "You will not." You wouldn't say "You will, not, be able to ride the pony."

[Artemesia Posts: 4,527 Status: Offline WWW]

Yeah, I agree with no commas. The commas made me think it meant "I will also ride the pony", where no commas meant more like "I will so ride the pony."

[Ree Posts: 344 Status: Offline No Boxes WWW]

My understanding of "too" is that either way is correct. I like yours without the commas. It's better for the flow. JMHO

Ree

[Wonderview Posts: 19 Status: Offline The world can always use more magic]

No commas, for sure. As others have said in different ways, your copy editor was confusing the colloquialism "I will too!" (ie I will so!) with the grammatically correct "I will, too" (ie I will also/like you).

I don't think this is a matter of taste. I'd say putting in the commas is actively wrong.

[JennaWren Posts: 2,231 Status: Offline WWW]

Yeah, I agree with no commas. The commas made me think it meant "I will also ride the pony", where no commas meant more like "I will so ride the pony."

This. 

[mrh Posts: 4,687 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

I'd say putting in the commas is actively wrong.

Yes.

If she really thought "too" meant "also" there, then why wouldn't she go a step further and want to recast the sentence? Just adding the commas makes a really awkward construction. If the meaning is "I will SO ride that pony," it should be written the way you did it, sans commas. If one did in fact mean "I will also ride the pony," then something like "I will ride the pony, too," would be much better. Merely adding commas to what you wrote doesn't work no matter which meaning is intended.

[Debby G Posts: 648 Status: Offline WWW]

Okay, we're losing the commas. Thank you!

And in the copyeditor's defense, she did a great job on the rest of the manuscript, catching several of my dumb mistakes.

[anita Posts: 403 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

I'm chiming in late. I think that the copy editor is probably technically correct, but if the kid is saying it, then with the commas in it doesn't sound the way a kid would say it.

And congrats on the deal!

[Marcia Posts: 531 Status: Offline Never Too Late To Be What You Were Meant to Be WWW]

Yes, italics instead of commas on this one!

[L.P. Posts: 66 Status: Offline I believe in magic!]

I do too agree with no commas! And really, I agree with no commas too.