Do I need comma ?

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duiter

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Hi all,

Do I need to put comma between sleep and hoping ?

Quickly and quietly, Maria, a young girl, went to sleep hoping to please her mom

Does comma between sleep hoping make any meaning difference ?

Many thanks
 

e2e4

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/A learner/

Hi all,

Do I need to put comma between sleep and hoping ?

Quickly and quietly, Maria, a young girl, went to sleep hoping to please her mom

Does comma between sleep hoping make any meaning difference ?

Many thanks
"Maria went to sleep hoping to please her mom."
I think that "hoping to please her mom" is an adverb to sleep.
No need for a comma between a verb and its adverb.

Let's wait for a teacher confirmation/denying.
 

lauralie2

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Hi all,

Do I need to put comma between sleep and hoping ?

Quickly and quietly, Maria, a young girl, went to sleep hoping to please her mom

Does comma between sleep hoping make any meaning difference ?

Many thanks
With participial phrases like "hoping to please her mom", a comma is used to disambiguate, like this:


  1. Maria saw the woman using binoculars.
  2. Maria saw the woman, using binoculars.

In 1., the woman is using binoculars, and in 2., Maria is using them. The comma stops the participial phrase (using binoculars) from modifying the preceding noun (woman).

Your example sentence does not admit ambiguity, so a comma is unnecessary:


  • Maria went to sleep hoping to please her mom.
 

mehdihas

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Hi there,
I guess there is no need for any comma. Here we have the combination of two sentences where the subject of both verbs "went to sleep" and "hoping" is the same, so no need for a comma.
 

bhaisahab

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I think the comma does change the meaning.
 
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