"When people talk listen completely" <- isn't there a comma missing there?
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Music by Eric Matyas
https://www.soundimage.org
Track title: Hypnotic Puzzle2
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Chapters
00:00 &Quot;When People Talk Listen Completely&Quot; ≪- Isn'T There A Comma Missing There?
01:01 Answer 1 Score 3
01:16 Answer 2 Score 1
01:29 Accepted Answer Score 8
02:21 Answer 4 Score 2
03:16 Thank you
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Full question
https://english.stackexchange.com/questi...
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Tags
#grammar #commas
#avk47
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 8
In writing, the comma is necessary between “talk” and “listen” because the phrase “When people talk” is a dependent adverbial clause. It depends on the independent clause “listen completely” (consisting of the imperative “listen” and the adverb “completely”), which forms a complete thought, or sentence.
According to Purdue University,
Use commas after introductory a) clauses, b) phrases, or c) words that come before the main clause.
When the snow stops falling, we'll shovel the driveway.
In speech, the speaker would indicate a comma by briefly pausing after saying the word “talk,” rather than immediately following it by the word “listen” (as though the two formed a compound word). By reciting each variation, the necessity of the comma will become obvious.
ANSWER 2
Score 3
According to this article https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/607/, one of the usages of comma is to prevent possible confusion or misreading and I think this one needs a comma to prevent such thing and you are right.
ANSWER 3
Score 2
The quote's provenance, according to Wikiquote is
Ernest Hemingway, letter of advice to a young writer, reported in Malcolm Cowley, "Mister Papa", LIFE magazine (January 10, 1949), Volume 26, No. 2, p. 90. A longer version appears in Hemingway's Across the River and Into the Trees (1967)....
I haven't been able to locate the magazine online, and as far as I can tell, the quote doesn't appear in ATR&ITT. If Cowley quotes the letter in Life but doesn't tell you where it was published, I'd withhold judgment about Hemingway's authorship. If there is a letter, especially a handwritten letter, then you wouldn't expect the punctuation to be rigorous. If the author left out the comma, those who quote the passage should do likewise.
Punctuation is a matter of style, so there no right or wrong answer. Most style guides will advise that a comma separate an introductory clause, especially if the leaving out the comma induces an impossible parse like "talk listen".
ANSWER 4
Score 1
I did a quick search and these three came up with a comma,
When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/when_people_talk-listen_completely-most_people/145028.html