Comma before "than" [What better way to celebrate.., than...]
I'd really appreciate some help on this one.
Do I use comma in the following sentence?
What better way to celebrate 30 years of [name of my local football club], than with a win against [name of our next opponent]!
Context: We have a game coming up on the same day as we're celebrating 30 years and there would be no better way to celebrate it, than with a win against our rivals.
Thanks!
Solution 1:
English classes often teach the comma as a tool to be used whenever you need a verbal pause in a sentence; however, this leads to overuse of the comma, which I think is demonstrated by your sentence.
Let's simplify your sentence:
What better way to celebrate 30 years of [name of my local football club], than with a win against [name of our next opponent]!
becomes:
What better way to celebrate Manchester, than with a win against Chelsea!
becomes:
What better way to celebrate this, than to do that!
Once distilled, this sentence is ultimately a comparison between a better way of celebrating this and doing that (is there a better way? no), and thus should not contain a comma (1).