The Indispensable Interjection Oh

The Indispensable Interjection Oh The Indispensable Interjection â€Å"Oh† The Indispensable Interjection â€Å"Oh† By Mark Nichol An interjection is one or more words uttered or written as an exclamation or an expression of emotion. I already provided a lifetime supply of them in a previous post, but here are some additional notes about one of the most ubiquitous of them all: oh. Whether this all-purpose exclamation is followed by a comma or not depends on its purpose. â€Å"Oh, my† and the like are expressions of any one of a variety of emotions or comprehensions, including pain or repulsion, or surprise or wonder. Oh is also a placeholder that signals dismissiveness (â€Å"Oh, don’t mind me†) or indicates an approximation (â€Å"He was, oh, about this tall†). Say is employed in a similar usage (â€Å"What if I were to offer you, say, twice as much?†). Its poetic equivalent, known as the vocative O a stylized form of direct address meant to evoke a classical lyricism, is rarely followed by a comma: â€Å"O Lord!† is the utterance of someone asking for attention from a deity; â€Å"Oh, Lord† might be a more mundane request for consideration from a nobleman, though it often serves simply as an oath or a variant of â€Å"Oh, my.† Some usage guides omit the comma when oh is used for the latter constructions, but the punctuation is a pertinent marker for a slight pause in this case and for similar utterances like â€Å"Oh, right† or â€Å"Oh, crap.† Likewise, a comma separates oh from a lengthier phrase: â€Å"Oh, where did I put it?† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 "Home" Idioms and ExpressionsHang, Hung, Hanged30 Words Invented by Shakespeare