Sometimes, you encounter a group of words that are always used together and that have a different definition from their literal meaning.
These phrases are called “idioms.”
The phrase “not to mention” is sometimes used as an idiom. Knowing when it is an idiom is an important part of identifying whether it also needs a comma.
Do you need a comma before or after “not to mention”?
Identifying when “not to mention” is used as an idiom
The first thing to keep in mind when deciding whether you need commas with “not to
As the negative form of an infinitive, “not to mention” means what it literally appears to mean: that a thing should not be said.
Here are examples of “not to mention” when it is simply acting as a regular negative infinitive in a sentence. In these cases, no commas would be used:
They told me not to mention the bad news.
Here are three examples of “not to mention” used in this way:
I can’t believe she has the time and energy, not to mention the money, to remodel the entire house
The risks, not to mention the costs, of starting a new business now mean it is a terrible idea.
I don’t like cooking, cleaning or any kind of domestic work. Not to mention, there were no cleaning supplies in the house anyway.
The first thing to ask yourself when you are deciding whether “not to mention” needs comma is how it is being used in the sentence.
If it is an idiom, you will need a comma before or after it based on where it appears in the sentence.
“Not to mention” as an idiom at the beginning of an independent clause
“Not to mention” at the beginning of a sentence is a more informal way of writing or speaking.
It is also fairly common in casual writing, so while you probably wouldn’t see it in a formal essay, you might see it in a social media post or an email from a friend.
When “not to mention” comes at the beginning of an independent clause as an idiom, it follows a sentence or independent clause that names at least in a list. It adds at least one more item.
Treat it as an introductory phrase, and put a comma after it.
Here are two examples:
Greta was exhausted; not to mention, she hadn’t eaten all day.
We were hesitant to go any further because we’d lost our map and didn’t have any water left. Not to mention, we’d heard this was bear country.
As is always the case with “not to mention,” be sure to distinguish its use as an idiom from other uses.
For example, in the sentence below, it comes at the beginning of the sentence, but here, it is not used as an idiom:
Not to mention the importance of this interview would be a mistake.
Instead, that entire phrase “not to mention the importance of this interview” is acting as the subject of the sentence.
“Not to mention” in the middle of a sentence
More commonly, “not to mention” as an idiom comes somewhere in the middle or near the end of a sentence.
In these types of sentences, it should be preceded by a comma:
We have the skills and the drive, not to mention the ability, to succeed at this task.
She runs into a lot of problems with the poor quality of the soil and the pests, not to mention she knows little about gardening!
Pets can provide companionship and love, not to mention a lot of laughs.
Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.