Okay, let's have another contest!
I am searching for the best way to punctuate a way of writing and speaking that I tend to use frequently, when blogging and preaching.
The problem is a sentence where you want to say "The thing is..." or "The truth is..." When you speak it, there is a sort of dramatic pause after the "is". But putting a comma there seems and looks wrong. (Though I've done it before, especially in sermon manuscripts, mostly as a reminder to myself where the sentence is going so I don't miss the pause.)
Putting in nothing seems wrong too, as it doesn't truly reflect what the sentence is doing. Would you use a dash? "The truth is--we're scared." OR "The truth is -- we're scared." (Sorry they don't meld here; I find it annoying too.)
Or a colon? "The truth is: we're scared."
Do you like the comma option? "The truth is, we're scared."
Or what about an ellipsis? "The truth is... we're scared."
I know I just posted a big thing about semi-colons recently, but I'm actually very clear that this is not an occasion for a semi-colon.
So what do you think? What works best? I might be leaning toward the ellipsis. But I'm open to suggestions.
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3 comments:
That. The truth is THAT we're scared. Otherwise, the convention for representing something that is left out is to use an apostrophe. How about "The truth is ' we're scared"?
I definitely leave the "that" out for rhetorical purposes. I think I usually use a comma, only because I don't much care for ellipses, except to note that I'm skipping part of a quote.
Okay, I'm still not satisfied. Of course there is a theoretical "that" there, but the point is that I don't want to include it. The apostrophe suggestion is hilarious, but unworkable. Still not satisfied with using a comma.
Meanwhile, the abuse of commas and ignorant avoidance of semi-colons continues unabated.
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