Answer: How do you punctuate "You, too, can be..."?

[mendax.livejournal.com]

With examples from Sherlock Holmes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Back when I attended grade school (sometime around the Neolithic), we were taught to set “too” off with commas when it meant “also,” regardless of where it appeared in the sentence.

I could see that Holmes, too, was troubled by the missive.

I could see that Holmes was troubled by the missive, too.

If, however, we progress past the Neolithic, past the Victorian, even past the 1970s, we find people leaving the comma out if “too” ends the sentence or clause. We have now reached the point where most of the major American English style guides recommend against including the comma there.

There is more conflict about using commas to set off “too” in the middle of a sentence or clause, perhaps because that structure is less common in the modern lexicon. While the Chicago Manual of Style says to leave the commas out in most circumstances (the Chicago online Q&A recommends using commas “only when you want to emphasize an abrupt change of thought”), the Gregg Reference Manual prefers to leave them in.

I usually agree with the Gregg’s stodgy prescriptivism, but in this case I find myself preferring a more open-ended approach. Making the commas optional gives you more flexibility to convey inflection: Surrounding “too” with commas places greater emphasis on the word immediately preceding “too.”

Giles took off his glasses. "I must confess that I too am concerned."
Giles took off his glasses. "I must confess that I, too, am concerned."

Either of the above is acceptable, but by adding emphasis to the second "I," the second example imparts a slightly greater degree of importance to the fact that Giles, specifically, is concerned.

And this brings us, finally, to the phrase that was actually asked about. In my experience, “You, too, can be…” usually means “You — yes, even you!” So I would most often set off this specific “too” with commas to provide that emphasis on “You.” But if that’s not how it sounds in your head or what you wish to convey, you don’t need to use the commas.

Whether you choose to employ the commas or not, do realize that (as with parenthetical expressions and other nonrestrictive sentence elements) if “too” appears mid-sentence, you must use either both commas or none. It is not correct to punctuate it as “You too, can” or “You, too can.”

There now. I feel better now that I’ve indulged in some concrete rules mongering.

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[mendax.livejournal.com]

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