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Regarding the following sentence: I look forward to engaging in acting classes and in the Film Club to meet people with similar interests

I was wondering if it is possible to split the sentence with a comma like: "I look forward to engaging in acting classes and in the Film Club**,** to meet people with similar interests"

The meaning that I want to convey is "engaging in two things in order to get smth"

I thought that this comma would help making the sentence clearer, but I'm concerned if such addition would be against punctutation rules.

Which one is correct, the original sentence or the one with the comma?

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  • Although engage works well with acting classes, join might be better suited to the Film Club. Thus: I look forward to engaging in acting classes and joining the Film Club to meet people with similar interests. Film Club probably doesn't need caps (unless you want to emphasise the title) and you don't need a comma.
    – Ronald Sole
    Commented Feb 26, 2017 at 19:58
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    It's rather garden-pathy, though I believe only sticklers would label either variant incorrect. I'd rewrite as "I look forward to engaging in acting classes and in the Film Club, hopefully meeting people with similar interests."
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 26, 2017 at 23:47
  • The phrasal verb 'look forward to' itself has the denotation of hope, excitement and pleasure, the use of 'hopefully' seems not idiomatic, but rather idiotically redundant.
    – mahmud k pukayoor
    Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 2:58
  • @EdwinAshworth You wouldn't be concerned with those same sticklers pointing out that you misused the word hopefully?
    – spoko
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 21:43
  • @spoko They should have read Quinion, and Fowler, on the subject.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 22:26

2 Answers 2

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To meet ... functions as a adverbial phrase, trying to address why you want to engage.

It needs to be separated with a comma, so that it addresses why you want to engage in both the activities.

Without the comma, it addresses only your joining the film club.

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I believe the original is correct and the revised (with comma) is not.

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