Much to my surprise, the corporate training I've done for almost 20 years
now has often focused on grammar (written and oral) and punctuation. The
adults I meet in my workshops are searching for as many simple,
close-to-almost-always rules they can follow when writing and editing.
One of the most typical questions I receive is the one you've just
indicated. You would not believe the sighs of relief I hear around the room
when I share this simple rule:
If you have two complete thoughts, always use a comma before the FANBOYS
(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). If not, don't. I then illustrate with
examples like these:
Linda teaches professional writing skills, and she enjoys working with great
groups like you.
Linda teaches professional writing skills and enjoys working with great
groups like you.
They grasp that easily and are so relieved to have a simple rule (without
accompanying cluttering exceptions) they can use and share with others.
This rule has never failed me or one of my participants. I hope it helps
you too.
Linda Comerford
www.comerfordconsulting.com
_____
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell, William C
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 4:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Commas in compound sentences
I tell my (college) students that it's one of those rules that they need to
apply in formal academic writing, but can take less seriously in other
styles. Frankly, I have to admit that I tell them this mainly because I
think other teachers / editors enforce it, not because I think it's a
particularly valuable rule. One difficulty, though: telling students they
need to use it in formal writing doesn't work very well if they've never had
any exposure to the independent / dependent clause distinction, so even if
we don't present the rule until late high school or early college, the
groundwork for it needs to be in place already.
I'm not sure of its history, but I suspect it's one of those many, many
cases that started out as a helpful suggestion about warding off ambiguity
and ended up being a rigid requirement.
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Kischner
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Commas in compound sentences
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.
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