Comma Before Too | Rules & Examples

You don’t need to add a comma before ‘too’ in most contexts. You can add one if you want to place more emphasis on ‘too’, but it’s not mandatory:

• Your brother is coming with us too.
• Your brother is coming with us, too.

You do need commas before and after ‘too’ when it appears between a verb and its object:

• I expect too that you’ll want something to eat in the morning.
• I expect, too, that you’ll want something to eat in the morning.

You also need a comma after ‘too’ when it’s used to introduce a sentence (although we don’t recommend using ‘too’ in this way regardless):

• Too we consider the implications of our study for other researchers.
• Too, we consider the implications of our study for other researchers.

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When a comma before ‘too’ is optional

In most contexts, you don’t need a comma before ‘too’. For example, ‘too’ commonly appears between the subject and the verb or at the end of a sentence. It’s not required to add a comma in these cases.

You can optionally add commas around ‘too’ (when it appears mid-sentence) or a comma before ‘too’ (when it appears at the end). This has the effect of breaking up the sentence structure a bit, creating more of a pause and increasing the emphasis on ‘too’.

In general, use your own judgement to decide whether to add commas based on what reads more smoothly in the specific sentence. There are some cases where adding the comma(s) clearly improves readability, such as when ‘too’ appears after a subject consisting of several words.

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When you need a comma before (and after) ‘too’

There are some contexts where commas before and after ‘too’ are necessary. These are when ‘too’:

• Appears between a verb and its object
• Is used to introduce a sentence

‘Too’ between verb and object

When ‘too’ separates a transitive verb from its object, the sentence can be somewhat difficult to follow without additional commas.

It’s generally seen as better style to add commas around ‘too’ in this context. This just makes the sentence easier to parse by creating a pause before and after ‘too’.

‘Too’ introducing a sentence

‘Too’ is sometimes used as a conjunctive adverb to introduce a sentence. If you use ‘too’ in this way, it needs to be followed by a comma, just like other introductory words (e.g., ‘however‘).

• Too it is important to bear in mind that not all participants have the same background.
• Too, it is important to bear in mind that not all participants have the same background.

However, this usage is rare, and it reads unnaturally to most English speakers. We recommend avoiding it by replacing ‘too’ with a synonym (e.g., ‘additionally’, ‘moreover’, ‘furthermore’) or moving it to a different point in the sentence.

• Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that not all participants have the same background.
• It is important, too, to bear in mind that not all participants have the same background.

Other uses of ‘too’

In other contexts, ‘too’ is not used to mean ‘also’ but instead to modify an adjective or adverb that comes immediately after it (e.g., ‘too much’). In this context, ‘too’ means ‘excessively’ or ‘very’. There’s normally no need for any commas when using ‘too’ in this way.

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