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“I found your wallet today in my trunk.”

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“I found your wallet today, in my trunk.”

?

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    This is better suited for English SE. This is the technical side of writing, not about telling the tale, or promoting it. That said, it depends on when you want your reader to pause (if from the aesthetic angle of things).
    – Fayth85
    Jun 6, 2018 at 21:19
  • It's an example of a comma splice (along with an incomplete independent clause), which is technically wrong. But, ironically, writers do often use comma splices for artistic effect. If this were asked on english.stackexchange.com, I would say don't use the comma. Or I would send the question to this site to ask about its stylistic use in writing. Since it is being asked here, I would ask for more clarity. Is there a particular stylistic reason that you think the comma might be appropriate despite the faulty grammar and the existence of other punctuation that could be used?
    – Jason Bassford
    Jun 7, 2018 at 1:56

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Commas are used to improve clarity and, in the case of quoted speech, to show features of spoken language.

In this case a comma is not required, but could be inserted to show a pause in the spoken sentence.

You could alternatively use a dash — to show a longer pause.

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Hahaha - that's the exact same question that I was going to ask yesterday, but I was (going to be) having a laugh! Changed my mind at the last minute (and choked back my laughter simultaneously) so it'll be interesting to see how this question fares.

My own answer is that it depends on how the sentence should be spoken. A comma usually denotes a slight pause in the sentence and so if you want there to be a pause just before 'in my trunk' (as if someone is saying this for some kind of dramatic effect, or to make a particular point (such as 'what was it doing in my trunk - did you put it there?' or 'I thought you said that you looked in the trunk - how come I could find it and you couldn't!')) then put a comma there.

On the other hand, if want to denote that the sentence was spoken without inflection, pause or any particular effect, then leave the comma out. It would then be spoken in a rather flat manner as if someone is imparting a fact without any particular emotional effect.

Good luck going forward.

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