It doesn't need a comma!

[aidenfire]

So, a lot of people on my flist have been complaining about the GoF poster's comma issues. I looked at it, and thought,

The text reads:

"Difficult times lie ahead Harry"

When I first saw it, it was on a link from a flister who'd complained about the comma-lack. I thought the structure was a little awkward, and there shouldn't be quote marks, but other than that, there was no place to put a comma. I read it as a simple statement of fact--a rephrase might have been "Harry's going to be in some tough shit soon"--and I couldn't figure out why everyone was making a comma kerfluffle. I didn't want to say anything and look dumb, but really, I didn't see it. Then, I realized that, because of the quotation marks, people were reading it as someone talking TO Harry. Their rephrase might have been "Harry, you're going to have to deal with some tough shit soon." In that case, it definitely would have needed a comma. And true, the quote marks are pretty bad form. But I think that was the mistake, not the comma. I don't think the poster-makers are actually quoting a different character. I think it's akin to "Something Wicked This Way Comes" from PoA. They just messed up on the quote marks. So, let's hit them over the head about that, ok?



Ahh, my grammar rant for the day.

ETA: Hmm, I just watched the trailor, so yeah, we can just ignore that completly. Whoops! I guess I should have kept my mouth shut and not looked dumb like I did at the beginning.

Comments

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm not catching it, really, at all. Sorry.