Need Professional Comma Help

[PeterRabitt20]

Hi,

I know there's been lots of discussion about commas—they probably will never stop .

I wanted the forum's opinion on commas separating independent clauses. There is an independent clause followed by a comma, conjunction, and another independent clause. Does removing the comma before the conjunction considered stylistic in grammar? I see it a lot in books but could never find any rules that allow it.

Here are a couple of examples that are disputed:

Carrie lived in a van, and her best friend visited her every day.

I picked up the red apple and the worm started to protest.

How do treat the comma placement before the conjunctions?

Thanks

[MsH2k]

Hi,

I know there's been lots of discussion about commas—they probably will never stop .

I wanted the forum's opinion on commas separating independent clauses. There is an independent clause followed by a comma, conjunction, and another independent clause. Does removing the comma before the conjunction considered stylistic in grammar? I see it a lot in books but could never find any rules that allow it.

Here are a couple of examples that are disputed:

Carrie lived in a van, and her best friend visited her every day.

I picked up the red apple and the worm started to protest.

How do treat the comma placement before the conjunctions?

Thanks

Hi,

Both of the examples are fine as written. Generally, use a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses. However, if the clauses are closely connected and short, a comma is not needed. The issue is what constitutes "closely connected and short."

Here is Scott's post about how we handle this at OBC:
viewtopic.php?f=72&t=130072

and here is another link that has great comma info and also supports what Scott said:
https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/comma.html

Hope this helps resolve your dispute.