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To: csense
doesn't make sense without commas: People, you'd think, would know better...

I wasn't using the word "people" as a proper noun to address anyone. If I were, I would have used a comma after the word. I definitely wouldn't add a pause between the words, "think" and "would". Creating a pause there seems unnatural to me.

190 posted on 03/27/2011 10:35:24 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Windflier
I wasn't using the word "people" as a proper noun to address anyone.

But you were distinguishing between those who are reasonable and those who are unreasonable. You are in effect addressing two distinct audiences. Without a comma, that distinction is unclear, even though the reader instinctively understands what you are talking about. To me it's only proper to use a comma to reinforce those partial concepts.

Creating a pause there seems unnatural to me.

Again, I disagree. If spoken, one would naturally separate the middle phrase with a pause, even if ever so slightly, to distinguish who is being addressed. At the very least there would be a slight change of inflection.

209 posted on 03/28/2011 5:18:54 AM PDT by csense
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