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Please punctate this sentence correctly


harris

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My guess would be

First talk to Mr. Johnson, then see the supervisor for the next meeting.

There is no comma after "First". I guess there would be one if you had an adverb "firstly" there instead, but that just sounds plain weird.

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You would put a comma before the ¨then.¨ But that should be it. Some people would pause after saying ¨first,¨ but some wouldn't. So a comma could realistically go there but it is not needed. Since it is writing, it is better to keep out superfluous commas.

First talk to Mr. Johnson, then see the supervisor for the next morning.

First, talk to Mr. Johnson, then see the supervisor for the next morning.

Also,

First, talk to Mr. Johnson. Then see the supervisor for the next morning.

Lots of ways to do it.

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First talk to Mr. Johnson then see the supervisor for the next meeting

:smile:

I have a feeling you're taking a test for a transcription site, correct me if I'm wrong?

Anyway, my answer would be:

First, talk to Mr. Johnson, then see the supervisor for the next meeting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would suggest that you put a comma after "first" because you have a series of actions there. So, the other members are right.

First, talk to Mr. Johnson, then, see the supervisor for the next meeting.

Or break it into two sentences:

First, talk to Mr. Johnson. Then, see the supervisor for the next meeting.

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  • 1 month later...

Here's mine version, I think correct but I'm of course subjective :).

First, talk to Mr. Johnson, then see the supervisor for the next meeting.

I don't think a comma after "supervisor" is required..

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First, talk to Mr. Johnson! Then see the supervisor for the next meeting!

    ....I imagined a boss yelling so I went with the punctuation that would fit that.

Oh! In the title, punctate should actually be spelled as 'punctuate'.

  Please don't be mad! ;_;

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First talk to Mr. Johnson then see the supervisor for the next meeting

:smile:

I'm no professional, but I'll give it a shot. Note that this is only my interpretation of how punctuations work though, as I've already forgotten most of the technical aspects and rules of punctuation.

My version of this would be:

First, talk to Mr. Johnson, then see the supervisor for the next meeting.

I did it this way because I don't think it necessitates two sentences and from what I gather there should be a pause where the commas are.

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First, talk to Mr. Johnson then see the supervisor for the next meeting.

There is no harm trying  :grin: Plus, a friend of mine said "When someone says -please-, you should comply". Though I still want to know the correct answer as an additional information. Everyday is a learning experience specially in this forum.

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The ideal would be to split it into two sentences as they are separate clauses and form a list.

"First, talk to Mr. Johnson. Then, see the supervisor for the next meeting."

Another option would be to add an "and" to separate the clauses. This would remove the first comma as there is no list being formed, and add one after "Johnson". The "and" is not necessary but improves the rhythm of the sentence. However, stylistically this is less preferable than the first option (for written English anyway).

"First talk to Mr. Johnson, and then see the supervisor for the next meeting."

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