it's all about money

[blizzy]

Do my sentences sound natural? Are they even correct?

1. And of course, it centres about money again.
2. And of course, it's all about money again.
3. And of course, it's all about money.
4. And of course, like always it's all about money.

 

[andrewg927]

It's not a good idea to begin a sentence with "and". Otherwise, they are correct.

 

[emsr2d2]

In #1, "... it centres about money" doesn't work (in BrE, at least). You could use "... it [all] centres around money".
In #4, I'd add a comma after "like always".

 

[tzfujimino]

Whether they sound natural or not depends on the preceding sentence(s). I think it's a good idea for you to give us some more context, blizzy.

 

[andrewg927]

In #4, I'd add a comma after "like always".

I'm not sure that is a good idea. There will be too many commas in such a short sentence.

 

[tzfujimino]

I wouldn't use "like always". I'd use "as always" instead.

 

[andrewg927]

If the criterion is 'naturalness', which is rather subjective on its face, they all sound natural with the exception of 1)

#1 would be the least likely I would hear but I still think it's grammatically correct even if I wouldn't use it myself. As ems noted earlier, "center/centre around" would be a lot more natural.

 

[Tdol]

I'm not sure that is a good idea. There will be too many commas in such a short sentence.

If a short sentence requires a lot of commas, I say use them. I would put another comma in here.

 

[emsr2d2]

They might not lead to a pretty-looking sentence but when commas are required, they're required! As if on cue, I saw this comment today on a site for buying and selling second-hand goods.

I would, however, give you, at a push, £10, maybe £11, for it.


Pretty? No. Perfectly punctuated? Yes.

 

[Tdol]

Commas are not ruled by looks.

 

[GoesStation]

I saw this comment today on a site for buying and selling second-hand goods.

I would, however, give you, at a push, £10, maybe £11, for it.


Pretty? No. Perfectly punctuated? Yes.

I think it would be better punctuated as follows: I would, however, give you, at a push, £10 - maybe £11 - for it.

 

[Tdol]

Agreed, but it has a lot of commas in a short sentence even after the rewrite.

 

[GoesStation]

I agree. I think it would be better like this: I would however give you - at a push - £10, maybe £11, for it. I think modern practice allows omitting commas around single-word parenthetical expressions, and I think "at a push" feels like the sort of interruptive parenthetical which demands em-dashes. I'd like it more with a little rewording: I would however give you - at a push - ten, maybe eleven, pounds for it.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's not how I would have written it. I merely used it as an example of a relatively short sentence containing multiple correctly-placed commas.