Learn English – punctuation after beginning sentence with “In summary”, “Summing up” or “Last but not least”

phrasespunctuation

I am often wondering if there is a comma needed after starting a sentence with in summary, summing up or last but not least.

Here are two examples:

Summing up, both children returned home safe.

Last but not least, one has to conclude after all that …

Is there a rule to decide on this? Intuitively I would say to place a comma because after the specific phrases there is a break when speaking out the sentences.

Best Answer

Grammarly distinguishes between:

Commas After Introductory Clauses

Introductory clauses are dependent clauses which are found at the beginning of the sentence (although they can be moved to the end of the sentence, too, without confusing the meaning of the sentence). After a dependent introductory clause, we use a comma to separate the introductory clause from the independent clause. The dependent introductory clause may start with an adverb or conjunction like although, if, or when.

As the man was walking into the store, he came face-to-face with his childhood sweetheart.

Because the rain was torrential, the day’s Little League games were postponed.

Grabbing her umbrella, Kate raced out of the house. [non-finite clause]

and

Commas After Introductory Phrases

An introductory phrase is like a clause, but it doesn’t have its own subject and verb; it relies on the subject and verb in the main clause. Unless the phrase is very short (fewer than 5 words) and begins with a preposition (to, for, at, etc.), there should be a comma between the introductory phrase and the main clause. You can use your own judgment here: if you were saying the sentence out loud, would you pause after the introductory phrase?

Between March and April, the little boy grew three inches.

By flashlight we made our way along the path.

Now then, we should head back home because the baby needs a nap.

[Frankly, you should tell her.]

Because the introductory phrase by flashlight is short and begins with a preposition, a comma is not required; regardless, it wouldn’t be considered incorrect if there were a comma after flashlight.

[examples reclassified & augmented]

All three of the examples given by OP are, in addition, pragmatic markers (two indicating summarisation of the discourse, one indicating concluding remarks and importance). Such markers always need setting off by at least a comma to show that they do not form part of the matrix sentence (they give external comments / cues from the speaker).

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