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“we love free music / we know you do too / it is, a done deed”

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Actually that's an appropriate use, comma used for the purpose of producing a short pause to add emphasis to what follows.

Is the comma in it is, a done deed correctly used?

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6  
It used to be correct two hundred years ago. As explained here. We no longer live two hundred years ago, however. More to the point, if these guys insist on correct punctuation, where are all the other commas and periods? "we love free music we know you do too it is, a done deed" was as wrong two hundred years ago as it is now. Poor excuse made up on the spot, if you ask me. – RegDwighт♦ Nov 28 '12 at 10:38
I think the band should hire a proofreader to watch over their promoter. – J.R. Nov 28 '12 at 11:11
2  
A proofreader would be a start; a typesetter would be better. The kerning, leading, and antialiasing are all abysmal even by themselves, but an outright insult when juxtaposed to the photo collage artwork. The artist must feel betrayed. – RegDwighт♦ Nov 28 '12 at 11:30

closed as too localized by FumbleFingers, tchrist, StoneyB, MετάEd, cornbread ninja 麵包忍者 Nov 29 '12 at 4:14

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2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Commas in writing and pauses in speech are really two different things. It is a done deed should never have a comma in ordinary writing.

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up vote 1 down vote

In this case, the comma is not used as a part of the sentence structure, but rather to add a pause for emphasis. We see that the name of the album is Done Deed, so the artists chose to use a comma to emphasize those words in the description.

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I am confused. You say yes, then you say no, then you say yes. Also, by your logic, since the name of the album is Done Deed and not A Done Deed, the sentence must be punctuated "It is a, done deed". Thirdly, why not use italics — as you just did yourself? After all, italics are used both for emphasis and for titles; hard to imagine a better fit. Lastly, I wonder how commas can be grammatically correct to begin with. Punctuation ≠ grammar. – RegDwighт♦ Nov 28 '12 at 10:45
Thanks for the comment. I modified my answer so it's not wishy-washy. In response to "It is a, done deed", I have no idea. I'm not the artist so I can't say why they chose to let the article slide after the comma. Perhaps my reasoning is grasping at straws, but I loosely understand their attempt. Italics vs punctuation, again I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that italics don't cause the reader to add a pause, so I added that to my answer. – joulesm Nov 28 '12 at 10:57
Also sorry about the punctuation/grammar mix up. I've always mistakenly lumped them together (which, as wikipedia says, is common for non-linguists). – joulesm Nov 28 '12 at 11:00

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