Grammatically, do we put a comma or period after the phrases / words like "no problem", "sure", "okay", and the like, when responding to a request, or there is no grammatical rule and this is purely a style preference?
What syntactic role do these words play? Are these independent clauses, stand-alone minor sentences, or sentence substitutes (therefore, requiring a period / full-stop). Or interjections, discourse markets, speech tags, word substitutes, or particles (therefore, requiring a comma)?
Can these words play different roles in different situations and hence require different punctuation?
There seems to be contradictory examples from various websites and style guides calling these words discourse markers, interjections, formulaic expressions and pro sentences.
And even a style guide / advice (below) that always mandates periods after all of these words.
Margie Wakeman Wells: Court Reporting Resource, Books and Seminars on Good Grammar and Punctuation
Okay is one of those words that peppers the speech patterns of many people. Here is the scoop on okay.
If it comes at the beginning of a sentence, follow it with a period. It stands by itself and is not attached to anything around it.
I presume this advice only applies to free-standing "okay" and "no problem" and not when they substitute "yes"?
I would imagine that punctuation should reflect grammatical function? (Sentence substitutes should take period; interjections, word substitutes, particlesa should take commas after them.)
For example in the sentence below, would the word "okay" take comma or period?
— Will you help me?
— Okay (./,) I will.
Could I argue that "okay" takes comma if it stands for "yes" and period if stands for elliptical sentence "that's okay"?
What about "no problem" in the same construction?
— Will you help me?
— No problem(./,) I will.
Could I argue that "no problem" takes comma if it stands for "yes" and period if stands for elliptical sentence "that's not a problem"?
I am primarily interested in grammatical position (defining these words as independent constructions / clauses, requiring period, or as particles, requiring comma).
Would comma construction technically render a comma splice as it would be if the same words would be changed for "don't worry"?
— Will you help me?
— Don't worry, I will. (Comma splice.)
Best Answer
In this case, "okay" is being used as an interjection, and should therefore be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma for a short pause and a period for a longer one. For interjections, one can choose among a comma, period, and exclamation point. "Don't worry" and "no problem" are also being used, in this case, as interjections, so commas can work.
Personally, I'd use a comma for a very short pause, a semicolon for a longer one, and a period for a significant pause.