Imperatives + "already"?

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Maryn

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I've got one of those lines of dialogue that looks wrong either way. (So much for trusting my grammatical eye!)

The line is an imperative followed by the word already. For any short imperative ("Go, already!") the comma seems right, but with my longer imperative it feels 'off.'

Would anyone care to pat my hand and tell me this is right?

"He can't understand what I'm saying."
"So enunciate, already!"

Thanks in advance.

Maryn, doing a fast once-over before letting this one see the light of day
 

Aconite

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Maryn said:
"So enunciate, already!"
Looks fine, Maryn. I suspect it's one of those times when the writer's eye finds a construction odd for no real reason.
 
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If you missed out the comma it would look as if you were expressing a desire for some action to already have been taken.

Thereby proving that the Scottish way of speaking is far superior to the American way.

"That's enough, firfuxake!"

No ambiguity there.

scarletpeaches, being profane in text as she is still unable to speak out loud.
 

reph

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Maryn said:
I've got one of those lines of dialogue that looks wrong either way.
...one of those lines of dialogue that look wrong either way.

(Of those lines of dialogue that look wrong either way, I've got one.)

"So enunciate, already!"
The comma looks right to me. However, an example in the preface of Leo Rosten's Joys of Yiddish leaves it out: "Alright already!" So whom are you going to trust, me or the big hoo-ha author who misspells "all right"?
 

Maryn

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Good catch on my matching looks with one instead of lines. Oops! I leave it as-is because correcting it to save face means that I probably won't learn--and neither would anyone else who reads the thread.

I have a zero-tolerance policy on alright. My kids have threatened to have my headstone engraved "She was alright" just to spite me, and they're going to try work work in a possessive it's if they can.

However, "All right already" is a phrase unto itself. The 'missing' comma doesn't bother me.

Maryn, just barely young enough to accept change in a living language
 

rekirts

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'Alright' is in my Reader's Digest Oxford Complete Wordfinder.

alright adj., adv., & int. disp. = all right

(Yes, disp. means disputed.) :)
 

Jamesaritchie

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Line

reph said:
...one of those lines of dialogue that look wrong either way.

(Of those lines of dialogue that look wrong either way, I've got one.)


The comma looks right to me. However, an example in the preface of Leo Rosten's Joys of Yiddish leaves it out: "Alright already!" So whom are you going to trust, me or the big hoo-ha author who misspells "all right"?

While not ungrammatical, the words "I've got" always bothers me greatly. It's a case where "got" can be, and should be, easily eliminated.

Instead of "I've got one," "I have one" solves the problem. It almost as if we forget contractions are two words, rather than one. I don't think anyone would write "I have got one," but that's exactly what's being done when we write "I've got one."
 

Maryn

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Ah, but I'm writing my messages here pretty much the way I speak. While I might write "I have," I would say "I've got." (So would most of my characters.)

Please don't let it bother you greatly, James. I urge you to concentrate more on the misuse of it's as a possessive. Help stamp it out in our lifetimes!

Maryn, sorry to have irritated James, sort of
 

Jamesaritchie

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I've got

Maryn said:
Ah, but I'm writing my messages here pretty much the way I speak. While I might write "I have," I would say "I've got." (So would most of my characters.)

Please don't let it bother you greatly, James. I urge you to concentrate more on the misuse of it's as a possessive. Help stamp it out in our lifetimes!

Maryn, sorry to have irritated James, sort of

I know, but it does still bother me. Can't help it. It's like an itch in the middle of my back that I can't quite reach. Whether in daily speech, or in writing, it bugs me to no end. I think the abuse of contractions is just as bad as the abuse of it's as a possessive.

What makes it ten times as bad is that I occasionally catch myself doing it, as well. Not often, but still. . .
 
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