Hello,

I've been scouring the Internet, but to no avail. Could you please tell me when/if "too" should be preceded by a comma at the end of a sentence?

Example 1:

I looked for the answer in a book, and I looked on the Internet, too.

Is this second comma necessary?

Example 2:

A: I'm hungry.
B: I am too.

Should there be a comma in the above response?

If you could answer these questions and give an explanation as to when it is appropriate to use a comma with the word "too", I would be very grateful. If possible, I'd also like to know why the comma is/isn't used.

Confused Canadian

The reason that it has taken several days to answer this question is that the Grammar Exchange has been scouring every reference it has to find the answer to this question, without success. So, the Grammar Exchange has consulted Janet Johnston, an editor at Pearson Education and an expert in all thing pertaining to copy editing. Here's what she says:

"If you remember the rule about adverbs (an adverb other than one at the beginning of a sentence doesn't need to be set off by commas from the rest of the sentence), it makes sense not to use a comma before "too" at the end of a sentence.

When the adverb comes first, however, people still put a comma after it as if it were an adverb phrase. But there are also many people, me included, who think an adverb phrase of three or fewer words doesn't need to be set off there either, and think that the comma just destroys the smoothness of the line.

I especially drop that comma from adverb phrases like "In 1964" + the rest of sentence. The Chicago Manual of Style has a handy little sentence somewhere that says that even though there is no grammatical reason to use a comma in a specific spot, if in speaking the line you put a pause there, use of the comma is OK.

It's a changing language and veers in the direction of simplicity all the time: two words becoming hyphenated and then one word, commas dropping like rain and disappearing, made-up words appearing out of nowhere, words changing from one part of speech to another. Seems that the best reason for dropping it is that it just isn't needed."

This writer (Rachel), however, usually does use a comma before the word "too" at the end of the sentence. Sometimes this comma is removed by an editor, though. In summary, we can say that the use of the comma before "too" at the end of the sentence is optional, but the trend seems to be going toward "light punctuation"* -- that is, no comma.

Rachel

*light punctuation" vs. "heavy punctuation" treated by Huddleston and Pullum in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. 2002

I was leaning towards no comma, which the email above convinced me was right. Until this point:

"This writer (Rachel), however, usually does use a comma before the word "too" at the end of the sentence. Sometimes this comma is removed by an editor, though."

If 'though' takes a comma before it, I can't see why it would be left out for 'too' - in this context they modify sentences in exactly the same way, and I would pause to the same degree if speaking.

Let's go to the:

http://www.americancorpus.org/

which allows us to search for commas and periods:

, too .
(thus end of sentence, preceded by comma)
gives 31366 hits
(they need to be separated all by spaces at this search machine)

too .
(also end of sentence, with or without comma)
gives 45429 hits

To me, editors' opinions or not, this shows that the majority thinks the comma is required.

The funny thing is that by limiting the search to FICTION we get:

9777
vs
16545

while in NEWSPAPER the stats are:

5964
vs.
6951

Thus, we should perhaps conclude that the newspaper editors are tougher than the fiction editors:-)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marius Hancu,

I'm one of those who tend not to use a comma before "too" too!

The style guides I’ve consulted, including the Chicago Manual of Style 15th Edition, give us a choice of the use or non-use of the comma before ‘too.’ Most tend to prefer omitting the comma.
Here’s a good explanation from Grammar Girl:
• The word “too” is an adverb that indicates “also” or “in addition.” It most often shows up in the middle or at the end of a sentence. Most of the time you probably won't use a comma with “too” because your sentences will be chugging along without needing a pause. So you could say, “I too like reading mysteries” or “I like reading mysteries too.” If, on the other hand, you want to emphasize an abrupt change of thought (1), you do use commas, which, among other things, are used to indicate pauses: “I, too, like reading mysteries” or “I like reading mysteries, too.” In these sentences, you are adding a pause to create emphasis.
There is no right or wrong here. Comma or no comma after “too” is really up to you and the context of the paragraph where the “too” sentence is. If you want to emphasize your thought, you can add the comma to slow the sentence down. If no emphasis is necessary, then no comma is necessary. http://grammar.quickanddirtyti.../comma-with-too.aspx
_______
Examples in dictionaries with ‘too’ at the end of the sentence seem to omit the comma too.
I may have to get with it, update myself, and start leaving out commas before terminal ‘too.’
_______

P.S. Have you noted that this thread has over 4000 views of it? Isn't this amazing? I think this thread started years ago, but still....I wonder if that number is correct.