[Grammar] The real question is, what would the mail services do without you?

[Ferdie11]

Hi,

I'm a little confused with the sentence below. I thought that we should never put comma (,) after a verb like is. Can you tell me why is it used in this sentence.

The real question is, what would the mail services do without you?

Thanks,

Ferdie

 

[Rover_KE]

The correct punctuation would be

The real question is, 'What would the mail services do without you?'

(The comma is optional in that sentence.)

When the inverted commas are informally omitted, as in your sentence, the comma after is indicates a pause for breath.

Rover

 

[TheParser]

Hi,

I'm a little confused with the sentence below. I thought that we should never put comma (,) after a verb like is. Can you tell me why is it used in this sentence.

The real question is, what would the mail services do without you?

Thanks,

Ferdie

NOT A TEACHER


(1) A comma introduces a quotation that does not have quotation marks:

The question is, How high will prices rise?

SOURCE: The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (1999).

(2) Use a comma to separate duplicated [same] words that would be confusing

without a comma:

What the problem is, is not clear.

SOURCE: The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (1994).

(3) A direct question included within another sentence is usually set off

with a comma:

What troubled Babs was, when had Anselm discovered that the key was missing?

SOURCE: The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition).

 

[Ferdie11]

NOT A TEACHER


(1) A comma introduces a quotation that does not have quotation marks:

The question is, How high will prices rise?

SOURCE: The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (1999).

(2) Use a comma to separate duplicated [same] words that would be confusing

without a comma:

What the problem is, is not clear.

SOURCE: The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual (1994).

(3) A direct question included within another sentence is usually set off

with a comma:

What troubled Babs was, when had Anselm discovered that the key was missing?

SOURCE: The Chicago Manual of Style (14th edition).

So, "The real question is, what would the mail services do without you?" is correct?

 

[TheParser]

So, "The real question is, what would the mail services do without you?" is correct?

NOT A TEACHER


(1) Yes, it is correct.

(2) And some people would prefer a uppercase (capital) "w" in "What would the ...."