Do we need to add a comma before "as" in the following sentence?
I am writing to inform you that I would not able to attend the course from 19 February as my new shift timings match the course timings.
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4Strictly speaking you should include the comma, but what marks the text out as "sub-standard" to me isn't that "missing" comma anyway. It's the use of [hypothetical?] would rather than will.– FumbleFingersCommented Feb 17, 2019 at 15:07
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1@FumbleFingers, thank you.Duly noted. is there a better word for "match" in this scenario...I think match does not fit in.– JayanthCommented Feb 17, 2019 at 15:20
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2Without the comma, the "as" would be read as "in the role of," e.g., "...attend the course as an auditor." Context rescues the meaning, but context should be a last resort where there is no benefit of brevity to be achieved by relying on it. I think "work schedule conflicts with the course hours" would be more idiomatic than what you have written. And I second FumbleFingers on "will" vs. "would," unless a real possibility exists that the course hours will be changed. In that case, you are telling the prof. why those hours should be changed, rather than why you will not be attending.– remarklCommented Feb 17, 2019 at 15:38
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@remarkl, so you suggest to go for comma before as?– JayanthCommented Feb 17, 2019 at 15:44
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1BTW, "I am writing to inform you that..." is always wasted verbiage. Not only does it waste everyone's time, it has an opportunity cost, squandering the chance to start with a real mood-setter, such as "sadly, "unfortunately," or the more melodramatic "To my great disappointment,".– remarklCommented Feb 17, 2019 at 23:24
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1 Answer
Despite all these comments, no-one has attempted an answer. Since I disagree with most of the comments, I thought I should give this answer. Please note I am a native BrE speaker.
If you wish to be very polite then you might well choose "would" rather than "will". In the context of a student addressing a professor, politeness might be appropriate. The element of doubt implied by "would'" permits a polite withdrawal: the professor might change the timings; you might decide that you could change your other commitments. "Will" could be read as an ultimatum.
There are a few occasions in which the omission of a comma changes the meaning of a sentence. This is not one of them. The modern taste is for minimal commas.
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Hi Jeremy, I am giving IELTS in a few days and so I am planning to understand the possibilities of the scenario. From IELTS perspective or strictly speaking, do we have to give a comma in my sentence?– JayanthCommented Feb 18, 2019 at 4:33
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1Would does not add any politeness in this context – it just confuses. Will here is a plain future marker, and there is no reason to shift this into the past. Doing so yields a very jarring and absolutely not formal sentence. Commented Aug 17, 2019 at 6:37
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@JanusBahsJacquet It is not a shift into the past but into the conditional ('If the times stay as proposed, I would not...'). Jarring or not, it's what many people would say.– JeremyCCommented Aug 17, 2019 at 9:52
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@JeremyC The conditional is temporally future past. Personally I have never heard anyone use a conditional in this context; present, present continuous, future and future continuous are all perfectly good options, but not conditionals. Commented Aug 17, 2019 at 9:56
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'I am writing to inform you that I will not able to attend the course from 19 February as my new boss has insisted we get to grips with our paperwork' arguably has its sense changed by the inclusion of a comma (though I'd rephrase). Commented Sep 5, 2021 at 15:38