English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
If I end a sentence with the word again, I do not usually need a comma such as in the following example:
"Here we go again."
However, I have been unable to find information about using the word again as part of a question. Should I be using a comma in the following question or not?
"What is the definition of irony, again?"
Is the word again considered a dependent clause or something else?
In the two examples you provide, the adverb "again" servers two different functions.
In "here we go again" it is modifying the verb "go". There should not be a comma between a verb and its adverb, regardless of whether it's at the end of the sentence or not. Here are some more examples:
Please come again.
I will do it again.
Trying again was not a good idea.
In "What is the definition of irony, again?", the word again is modifying the independent clause "what is the definition of irony". It is making a conceptual connection between this sentence and a previous one. It's not a separate clause, but a type of conjunction (a conjunctive adverb). It needs to be preceded or offset by commas, regardless of where it is in the sentence. Here are more examples:
Again, the definition of irony is [...].
Why is it, again, that you're looking up this word?
