My observations:

1. You're right that the rule is often ignored, especially but not
exclusively, in fiction.

2. Some style guides, e.g., Chicago, contain an exception for short,
closely related clauses. Your example to me arguably falls under that
exception, although you could just as well say that the lack of commas
was meant to convey a more conversational tone.

3. The big standardized tests (SAT, ACT) contain questions that require
students to apply this rule, so there are practical reasons as to why it
can't just be jettisoned. From what I've observed, they appear to avoid
clauses that might fall under the short & related exception.

I do think, though, that younger students don't need this rule at first,
perhaps not until high school. Give them some time to get an intuitive
feel for sentence combining and to build up an understanding of clauses.
Only after that will the punctuation rules make much sense.

Michael Kischner wrote:
> I'm wondering how many people are still teaching that placing a comma before
> a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence is the rule and omitting
> the comma is the exception?  I have been reading through mostly fiction
> books for elementary and middle school readers, and in those books it is
> certainly the other way around.  So in teaching kids at those levels to use
> the comma, we are up against most of what they see in print.
> 
> Last night, I made up some compound sentences to use in a workshop for
> elementary and middle school teachers.  I inserted the comma before each
> coordinating conjunction.  Then I read most of a delightful book, *Clarice
> Bean Spells Trouble* by Lauren Child.  It is full of sentences like this:
> "Grandad has actually got manners but he doesn't use them that much anymore
> and he hasn't let the dog see them, which is why Cement is utterly
> mannerless."  This morning, when I returned to my carefully made-up
> sentences, the commas looked like clutter: "Matthew wanted to play soccer,
> but the doctor said he should rest his injured leg."
> 
> I know that fiction narrated in the first person is the likeliest place to
> find compound sentences without commas.  But, though I haven't searched
> methodically, I think I have noticed them all over the place, in both
> fiction and nonfiction for both younger and older readers.
> 
> I wonder  whether the comma-before-the-conjunction "rule" has become one of
> those pedagogic oversimplifications of reality we sometimes resort to in
> order to give learners something clear and secure to grasp until they're
> ready for more complexity.  Whether such oversimplifications are effective
> or justified is a whole other question.  What I think I'd prefer is a better
> rule.
> 
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
> 
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
> 

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/