<p>This is from the additional info part of my application, where I'm submitting a document about my background. I'm on the fence about whether or not I need a comma here, mostly because I'm sleep deprived and can't remember anything.</p>
<p>"I want to make clear that I recognize a major problem with ...... background is that*!<---* you, as an admissions officer, really have no definitive way to assess..."</p>
<p>Do I need a comma where the ! is to isolate you? Should I just go with "background is that you, as an admissions officer," as opposed to "background is that, you, as an admissions officer," ? For some reason it sounds better in my head without the comma, but something feels wrong.</p>
<p>And while I'm on the topic, this is the only other one that's bothering me. I've already decided it doesn't need a comma, but I've got two people who are much smarter than I am disagreeing with me.</p>
<p>(from a short book review of Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning)
This book is dissimilar from many in that rather than being a narrative or an analysis*!<---* it is both; it is an analysis of Frankl's experiences and of those who he was imprisoned with, and it uses a narrative to help explore human nature and lay the groundwork for Frankl's development of logotherapy.</p>
<p>I personally have no comma where the ! is, but as I said, I'm being disagreed with. I feel it reads wrong with the comma, I mean for it to be read "rather than being a narrative or an analysis it is both," not "rather than being a narrative or an analysis <-- pause --> it is both."</p>
<p>I actually would change it from the "you" and put more generically, "The problem with .....background is that it makes it difficult to assess my......"
I don't think that "you" belongs in a formal essay, and they are ALL formal essays, no matter what anyone else may tell you.</p>